124: ALIMENTATION. 



There is no article the consumption of which is so much 

 a matter of habit as water, any excess which may be taken 

 being readily removed by the kidneys, skin, and lungs. Prof. 

 Dalton estimates the daily quantity necessary for a full-grown, 

 healthy male at fifty-two fluid ounces, or 3*38 Ibs. avoirdupois. 1 



The quantity of solid food necessary to the proper nour- 

 ishment of the body is shown by estimating the solid matter 

 in the excretions ; and the facts thus ascertained correspond 

 very closely with the quantity of material which the system 

 has been found to actually demand. The estimates of Payen, 

 the quantity of carbon and of nitrogenized matter in a dry 

 state being given, are generally quoted and adopted in works 

 on physiology. According to this observer, the following are 

 the daily losses of the organism : 



Carbon (or its equiv.) j Inspiration, 3,868-5 grs. ) 7 ( } 



1 I Excretions, 926-04 " ) 

 Nitrogenized substances (with 308-68 grs. of Nit.) 2,006-42 grs. ( 4-58 oz. av.) 



6,800-96 grs. (15-51 oz. av.) 



From this he estimates that the normal ration, supposing 

 the food to consist of lean meat and bread, is as follows : 3 



Nitrogenized Substances. Carbon. 



Bread 15,434 grs. (35-27 oz.)=l,080-38 grs. and 4,630-2 grs. 



Meat 4,412-12 grs. (10-09 oz.)= 930'05 grs. and 485-55 grs. 



19,846-12 grs. (45-36 oz.) 2,010-43 grs. 6,115-75 grs. 



This daily ration, which is purely theoretical, is shown 

 by actual observation to be nearly correct. Prof. Dalton 

 eays : " From experiments performed while living on an ex- 

 cases the diet consisted of vegetables of the most succulent kind. He mentions 

 one case in which water was not t^ken for more than a year during that 

 time the subject not experiencing the sensation of thirst more than two or three 

 times, and then after copious perspiration from working in hot weather. (PE- 

 SEIRA, Treatise on Food and Diet, edited by CHARLES A. LEE, M. D., New York, 

 1843, p. 277.) 



I 0p. cit.,p. 113. 



2 PAYEN, Substances Alimentaires, Paris, 1865, p. 482. The weights have 

 been reduced from grammes to troy grains, and ounces av. 



