ALIMENTARY EDUCATION OF CHILDREN LABBE. 557 



In fact, what is the campaign against alcohol if not one of the chap- 

 ters of alimentary hygiene? 



If this advice, addressed to children, were heeded and followed 

 (and here it concerns measures of personal hygiene which have no 

 part in the police power of the State), how many diseases we would 

 be able to avoid ! 



The xVmericans have accomplished some interesting results in this 

 direction. There is a series of nine posters published by Gillett, 

 which show : The type of child made vigorous by means of a proper 

 diet; the comparison of a well nourished with a poorly nourished 

 child and the reasons why the diet of the latter is bad ; the compara- 

 tive nutritive value of coffee and milk, of bouillon, of vegetable soup 

 or milk soup, of vegetables and canned or dried fruit as they are 

 found in large groceries, finally the usual foods; the series of foods 

 which are of value in building up the skeleton ; the most economical 

 and the most advantageous way of spending $5 for food. 



These pictures, placed where children can see them, in the lunch 

 rooms, in the dispensaries, and in the schools, will surprise and amuse 

 them ; commented on and explained by doctors, nurses, or instructors, 

 they will teach them some important facts of alimentary hygiene. 



We can, moreover, imagine others, not less useful in demonstra- 

 tions. I would propose, for instance, the following series, designed 

 to show the special role of various foods in answering the bodily 

 needs: (1) Those which make muscle (meat, eggs, dried vegetables, 

 cheeses, milk) ; (2) those which make bone (milk, whole cereals) ; 

 (3) those which aid growth (whole cereal porridge, cereal gruels, 

 whole wheat bread, milk, eggs) ; (4) those which make fat (bread, 

 meal, cereals, farinaceous vegetables) ; (5) those which produce 

 bodily heat (bread and butter and preserves, goose grease, cod-liver 

 oil) ; (6) those which produce energy for climbing, running, or play- 

 ing games (sugar, sugared fruits, honey, candy, chocolate) ; (7) 

 that which is necessary to climb on foot to the top of the Eiffel Tower 

 (seven lumps of sugar — sugar is for the human body what coal is for 

 the steam engine; to climb mountains, a stick of chocolate is better 

 than a thick beefsteak) ; (8) he who would travel far should take in 

 his sack sugar, chocolate, dry biscuits, ^and some preserved meat. 



If the pictures make an impression on the minds of the children, 

 the form of the thought is just as important ; mottoes and proverbs, 

 commandments, and succinct formulas are easily retained in their 

 memories. For this reason I have thought it would be interesting to 

 draw up "commandments" of alimentary hygiene, to be posted in 

 schools, dispensaries, and refectories. In the following twelve pre- 

 cepts I have summarized the essentials. 



