86 TKANSACTIONS OF THE AMERICAN INSTITUTE. 



Mr. Robinson. — A pound of sugar costs less than a pound of 

 meat, and will go farther as food in the family. It may as well 

 be eaten with rhubarb as with anything else. 



The Chairman. — One small Victoria supplies me abundantly, 

 and most of my neighbors. Sugar is considered by a very eco- 

 nomical friend of mine, as the cheapest diet that he can bring 

 into his family. 



Rev. Mr. Weaver. — Do people eat any the less meat when they 

 have sugar ? 



Prof. Nash. — When used to a reasonable extent, sugar goes 

 farther than meat, per pound. 



Mr. Pardee said that probably most people who ate sugar, ate 

 nearly as much meat as they v/ould without the sugar, but it 

 only proves their bad habits of eating. A great many people, 

 after eating a sufficient dinner, will finish off with a sweet and 

 luxurious dessert, and then suffer for twenty-four hours, perhaps, 

 from the effects of it. There is more nutriment in sugar than in 

 meat, and it would be well if we ate less meat and more sugar. 

 He narrated his experience in substituting a dinner of a cup of 

 black tea, with plenty of sugar and milk, for a hearty meal of 

 beef steak, the effect having been that he had not only felt better, 

 and been in perfect health, but had gained in weight. He had 

 found himself equally able to endure fatigue. 



Rev. Mr. Weaver said that it was true that most of us eat more 

 than is necessary, and that most people who die have their disea- 

 ses brought on by eating too much. We do not know what the 

 true diet is, and have little disposition to learn. The more dain- 

 ties are placed before a man, the more he will be likely to eat. 

 We should not place so many luxuries before men to tempt their 

 appetites. 



Dr. Waterbury said that the animal that could digest the 

 greatest quantity of food, could do the most work. Col. Pratt 

 made it a rule never to buy a team of horses that could not eat 

 a bushel of oats per day; half a bushel apiece. Otherwise he did 

 not consider them profitable for his business. The generally 

 received theory, that of Liebeg, is, that sugar is used in support- 

 ing respiration, while meat assists muscular exertion. Conse- 

 quently the man who is called upon to undergo severe muscular 

 exertion, should eat a greater proportion of the flesh of animals ; 

 while, on the other hand, the food of literary men should con- 



