314 



the economical production of work whether in man or animal 

 these three must be furnished in proper proportions. Protein is 

 the most important as neither of the others can replace it. 



Turning now to the question, What is fruit? we have, of course, 

 the botanical significance of the term as that part of the plant 

 which bears the seed whether a head of wheat, a pumpkin or an 

 orange. The term fruit, however, is never used in this sense 

 popularly and while there are a large number of plant products 

 which every one speaks of as fruit, there are also quite a number 

 about which there might be a difference of opinion. For the pur- 

 pose of the present paper I will adopt an emperical definition and 

 include as fruit those fleshy seed bearing plant products which 

 are eaten simply for their agreeable taste as an accompaniment to 

 or to give relish to other food. 



As tropical fruits of this character I ofifer the following short 

 list leaving out a large number peculiar to the tropics, but which 

 are seen or eaten by but few persons. This list would include 

 oranges, lemons, limes, pomelos, bananas, pineapples, grapes, figs, 

 guaavs, mangos, avocado pears and olives. It might at first sight, 

 in view of the definition of fruit I have adopted that fruits have 

 no food value, that they are simply agreeable accompaniments to 

 other food. Analyses, however, of these fruits show that they 

 have some food value and as man's digestive system is ordinarily 

 constituted the mere intention of the eater makes no difference in 

 the destiny of the material eaten. If the material eaten has food 

 value it will be utilized. 



In considering very briefly the composition of these fruits we 

 find that water is a large constituent. Of those mentioned all 

 except olives contain more than 75%. Oranges and pineapples 

 contain nerly 90%. This large water content necessarily makes 

 the possible food value low, but in this respect they are about on 

 the same footing with fresh vegetables. Of the important con- 

 stituent protein the amount present is small. Olives contain 2%, 

 figs 1.5%, grapes and bananas 1.3%, avocados 1.0%, oranges 

 0.8% and pmeapples 0.4%. Fats, of course, are absent except 

 in the case of olives and avocados. It is in the carbohydrate group, 

 the sugars, that we find the chief food value of the fruits mention- 

 ed. We find that bananas have 21%, grapes and mangos 15%, 

 oranges 11% and pineapples 8%. In short there is throughout a 

 general similarity in the composition of fresh fruits and fresh sue- 



