146 BULLETIN OF THE UNIVERSITY OP WISCONSIN. 



tasty ; and what is palatable may or may not have any nutritive 

 value, usually not. As a matter of fact, however, common sense 

 would suggest that what is best for the organism in the long 

 run affords the most agreeable gustatory sensations. The palate 

 never would have survived in the crisis of evolution if it had 

 not thus served the body faithfully. If in its pristine condi- 

 tion it selected foods which, while ministering to taste yet were 

 of little account in meeting the needs of existence, the race would 

 have disappeared in its infancy. Evolution, then, confirms 

 what unprejudiced observation and personal experience will tell 

 anyone, — that the most palatable foods fulfill the requirements 

 of perfect nutrition most satisfactorily. 



§2. The Cost of a Dietary of Different Foods. — But however 

 the philosophy presented in the preceding section may be re- 

 garded by some, yet it will readily be granted by all that in 

 student life, as it is found in our community, the question of 

 securing nutrition at the least expense is a vital one. Consid- 

 erably over one-half of our students feel the need of economiz- 

 ing in every direction during their university career, and it 

 is probable that there is no place where wise economy would 

 be more effectual than in the arrangement of the dietary. This 

 may be accomplished, and I believe without doing violence in 

 any way to the legitimate rights of the palate. There are ap- 

 pended tables showing that the requirements of a perfect bill 

 of fare can be met with different foods at greatly varying ex- 

 penditures. To illustrate : If one had twenty-five cents to ex- 

 pend for food, it would purchase for him almost no nutrition 

 in oysters, for instance, but it would yield very large returns 

 if spent for bread, or oatmeal, or cornmeal, as the following fig- 

 ures show: 



