ELEVENTH ANNUAL REPORT. 15 
PRESIDENT’S ADDRESS. 
TRE DIETE MC VALUE. OF FRUIT: 
WILLIAM R. LAZENBY. 
In order to support life and growth and to maintain the 
strength and efficiency of the human body, some things are abso- 
lutely ‘necessary. Among these, named perhaps in order of im- 
portance, are, pure air; wholesome, nutritious food; prompt and 
regular removal of the excreta; unbroken sleep; and some form 
of muscular exercise. 
No one can long enjoy a full measure of health and strength 
without due regard to each and every one of these. 
Pure air is placed first, for if this is lacking, however great 
the attention to the others, health is soon undermined. 
Ordinarily we supply the body with food in three daily meals, 
with intervals ranging from four to twelve hours, and this fully 
‘meets the demands of the stomach. The demands of the lungs 
are more imperious. They require, at least, 20,000 meals a day 
with intervals of only a few seconds. But if pure air is abso- 
lutely essential to good health, food is no less so. It is necessary 
to form the material of the body and repair its wastes: it is also 
necessary to keep up the proper temperature and furnish the 
muscular and other power that the body exerts. In other words, 
it serves not alone for building and repair, but for fuel as well. 
Science teaches us that the energy of the sun which lights 
and heats this restless planet we inhabit, is stored in wood and 
coal, petroleum and gas, and is constantly being transformed into 
the heat of the furnace, the light of the lamp, the power of the 
steam engine, or into electricity and then into light or heat, or 
mechanical power again. The same energy from the sun is 
stored in the protein, the fats, the carbohydrates of the various 
foods we use, and the physiologists and chemists are to-day tell- 
ing us how they are transmitted into the heat that warms our 
bodies, and into the power exerted by muscle, nerve and brain. 
If the propositions just stated are correct, food may be de- 
fined as anything which taken into the body aids in the building 
of tissues, or in the production of energy. 
From this it logically follows that the most healthful foods 
are those that are best fitted to the wants of the user, and that 
the best foods are those that are most healthful and most eco- 
nomical. 
