FOOD AND DIET : 



PAET II. 



THE quality and sufficiency of diet/' writes one of the leading authorities 

 upon the subject of human nutrition, "has a far-reaching influence upon 

 the development of the race, an influence which is directly seen in the physical 

 well-being associated with an adequate supply of suitable food. The 



"PROGRESS OF ANY NATION WILL BE HAMPERED 



if its citizens are ill-fed, for upon food depends not only life itself, but the power 

 to work and to resist disease. Further, the development of the race is indirectly 

 affected by diet, through the sharpening of the wits and the social co-ordination 

 which arise . . . from the necessity for the provision of food. For the supply 

 of food depends upon the exertions of the individual and its regular distribution 

 upon the organization of the race." 



TO THE THOUGHTFUL READER OF THESE FORCEFUL WORDS 



it must seem a strange oversight that, for several centuries, the provision of 

 daily food was considered of small account; a burden to be loaded on to any 

 shoulders rather than those of the mistress of the household; an occupation which 

 called for supervision, it is true, but which was quite capable of performance 

 by any uneducated woman. It was not until philanthropists began to realize that 



THE CAUSES OF ILL-HEALTH EXIST CHIEFLY IN THE MISMANAGEMENT 



OF THE BODY 



and in neglect of its needs, that the connection between food and efficiency was 

 discerned. Even then, when the first stir was made, some forty years ago, to 

 provide definite training in the art of cooking, with a view to the betterment of 

 the national health, such instruction was only considered necessary for the poorest 

 and most youthful females of the community (small girls of eleven in the public 

 schools). Several more years elapsed before the mere preparation of a few cheap 

 and simple dishes was supplemented by some teaching on the constituents of food 

 and their relative value to the body, or was extended to the better-off and more 

 favourably situated members of society, who were practically as ignorant of the 

 subject as their poorest neighbours. 



DURING THE LAST QUARTER OF A CENTURY, 



as the intimate relation of food to health has been more and more realized, 

 painstaking and accurate investigations have been carried out, with the result 

 that much evidence is now available to confirm the statements just quoted, namely, 

 that upon the character of our nutrition, as furnished by our daily diet, depend: 



(1.) National progress: 



(2.) Power to work: 



(3.) Ability to resist disease. 



Records of the past bear witness to the fact that, although scientific confirma- 

 tion of their observations was not at their disposal, as it is at ours, yet, among 

 the ancient nations Assyrians, Persians, Egyptians, Greeks the careful feeding 

 of their young people was directed and sometimes even undertaken by the State 

 itself. 



