STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 61 



eighths the weight of milk, one-fourth that of potatoes and lean 

 meat, one-third of bread, a little more than one-half of well fattened 

 beef or mutton, and one-eighth of flour and meal; nearly 80 to 90 

 per cent of most ripe fruit. The whole body of an average man 

 contains three-fifths water. 



2. If our bodies be burned, about six per cent will be found 

 remaining as unchanged mineral matter ; for example : phosphate 

 of lime from bone, phosphate of potassium and chloride of potassium 

 from muscle ; these mineral matters make from one-half to one to 

 two per cent of our vegetable food, and 31 per cent of animal food. 



3. Besides water and mineral salts, there are organic compound* 

 which make the bulk of blood and muscle, caWed jyrotein substances, 

 a name I ask you to remember, as these compounds are the most- 

 important of all the ingredients of foods. 



4. Are the fats making 16 per cent of average weight. 



5. Are substances called carbohydrates, that is, materials includ- 

 ing sugar, starch and dextrine, containing the same chemical ele- 

 ments as the fats, though in different proportions, and making only 

 a fraction of one per cent of a human body. Therefore we may 

 tabulate somewhat as follows : 



In the body of a man of 143 pounds, 



Water 90 



Proteins 26.6 



Fats 23.0 



Carbohydrates 1 



Mineral matters . . 8 3 



148.0 

 When we consider the actual value of these compounds as nutri- 

 ments, we shall find that the water has very little value, and the 

 main points to be obtained are these facts derived by an extensive 

 series of experiments made at the national museum in Washington, 

 by Prof. Atwater : 



1. Our bodies and foods consist of essentially the same materials, 



2. The actual nutritive ingredients of our food may be divided 

 into four classes, proteins, fats, carbohydrates and mineral matters. 



3. The nutrients of animal foods consist mainly of ^^roteins and 

 fats. Those of the vegetable foods are largely carbohydrates. 



4. The different nutrients have different offices to perform in- the 

 nutrition of the body. The demands of different people for food 



