The Audubon Societies 441 



ferent kinds of food, other chemical ingredients, such as water, mineral matter, 

 and refuse are tested before it can be known exactly how much fuel-value 

 may be reckoned to each pound of a given food. This fuel- value is set down in 

 terms of calories, a convenient method of getting at the relative fuel-value of 

 such different kinds of food as we are accustomed to eat. In studying physiology 

 you will learn about the organs of digestion, their proper use and the harmful 

 results of their abuse, with reference to these foods. 



Since the science of physiological chemistry has made it possible for us to 

 know beyond any doubt what kinds of food are needed to make up a whole- 

 some diet, and what kinds are not necessary, or are possibly harmful, and also, 

 how much is needed of certain kinds of food to maintain health, it is extremely 

 important that every boy and girl should learn something about these matters. 



Just because we may like some kinds of food much better than others is 

 not in itself a reason for eating them instead of other kinds, although one's 

 taste is usually a fair indicator, in health, of desirable foods for the system. It 

 is a good thing to be adaptable and to learn to eat a variety, so that if one thing 

 fails, another may be substituted in its place. 



When the supply of meat in England was cut down suddenly by circum- 

 stances attending the war, it was decided by the Food Administration Commit- 

 tee to find out who needed meat the most and then to make it possible for 

 the scanty supply to be distributed where it would do the most good in produc- 

 ing human energy. It was found that "before the war, the consumption of meat 

 in England was as follows:" 



Meat consumed per week, per person: 



Group I, artisans, mechanics, laborers 2 lbs. 



Group II, lower middle class 2^ lbs. 



Group III, middle class 3>^ lbs. 



Group IV, upper class s^ ^bs. 



Average consumption per person 2>^ lbs. 



Under Lord Rhonda's food-regulations, the meat-ration of all groups was 

 cut to i}4 LBS. PER WEEK PER PERSON, and in no case could anyone get more, 

 except certain people in Group I, such as munition workers, who are known 

 definitely to need a larger meat-ration. 



When we recall that only 35 per cent of the food eaten in Great Britain 

 is bread, while in France it is about 50 per cent and in some other countries 

 on the continent 60 per cent, or even 70 per cent, we begin to realize what a 

 remarkable change the English people made in their diet, and to realize that 

 the small sacrifice we are called upon to make, in decreasing our accustomed 

 ration of meat, is hardly to be compared with so radical a cut as that to which 

 they agreed. 



In finding out just how much a nation needs for l\)t)(l-supply, many factors 

 enter in, which we are not in the habit of thinking about. For example, we are 



