1 28 On the proper Balance of the Food in Nutrition, 



but in unfavourable circumstances it will become diseased, by 

 being compelled to act in opposition to nature. 



Taking it for granted that the requisite proportions for dif- 

 ferent circumstances were ascertained, the choice of aliment 

 could be regulated on the most rational basis. 



[We speak here primarily only of the absolute strength of 

 nourishment, without noticing the greater or less degree of 

 digestibility possessed by equally nutritious substances, and the 

 proportion of unassimilable constituents which they contain.] 



We observe, for instance, that cows on a meadow, feeding 

 only upon grass, enjoy good health. Now let us endeavour 

 to ascertain how we can produce the same proportion of non- 

 nitrogenous and nitrogenous aliment with other descriptions 

 of food. 



The proportion which exists in grass or hay is 1 to 8* 3, as 

 in the following Table: — 



This Table, as given by Fresenius, is derived from German authorities, 

 including several results obtained and published by Dr. Thomson in his 

 Researches on Food, p. 167- See also Phil. Mag., vol. xxxii. p. 459. There is 

 therefore some discrepancy when compared with English grain, the German 

 grain being richer in nitrogen. See Dr. Thomson on the Composition of 

 German and English Bread, Phil. Mag. vol. xxiii. p. 321. 



