174 ANATOMY FOR NURSES. [CHAP. XIV. 



Concluding remarks. The quantity and also the kind of food 

 each individual daily requires depends chiefly upon the nature 

 and the amount of the work he is called upon to perform, and 

 the conditions of the climate in which he lives. Universal 

 experience has taught us that the best sustainers of life are 

 milk and bread and water, with a certain amount of meat and 

 fat. These should form the basis of all our diets, though not 

 to the exclusion of other food-stuffs, for it has also been proved 

 that a mixed diet is always to be preferred to one that consists 

 constantly of the same articles of food. 



To determine the relative digestibility of foods is a very diffi- 

 cult matter in view of the individual peculiarities of different 

 people. Strawberries may agree perfectly with ninety-nine 

 people, and with the hundredth, act as a powerful poison. 

 Some persons, as we all know, cannot tolerate milk or eggs, 

 and yet, from a chemical point of view, these foods are emi- 

 nently suitable articles of diet. 



The best diet is that which contains all the articles of food 

 necessary for the wants of the body in proper proportions, which 

 is agreeable to the individual, and which gives the minimum 

 amount of work to the digestive organs. 1 



Food to be of any use to the body must be digested and 

 assimilated. We may partake of an ideal diet and yet remain 

 imperfectly nourished, if our digestive organs are out of order, 

 or our power to absorb and assimilate digested products in any 

 way impaired. In our next chapter we shall describe the ali- 

 mentary canal, the accessory digestive organs, and the methods 

 by means of which the food is reduced to a condition available 

 for the uses of the body. 



1 For valuable information on the relative value of foods and preparation of 

 the same for the sick, the student is referred to Boland's " Handbook of Invalid 

 Cookery." 



