CHAP. XIII.] ALIMENTATION. 



151 



Average composition of milk, bread, and meat. The following 



analyses of the composition of three staple articles of diet 



milk, bread, and meat are taken from Dalton. 



Average composition of milk in 100 parts : 



Water 35,4 



Proteids 43 



Sugar 52 



Fat 3.7 



Mineral salts 4 



Average composition of wheaten bread in 100 parts : 



Starchy matters 56.7 



Proteids 7.0 



Fatty matters - 1.3 



Mineral salts 1.0 



Water 34.0 



Average composition of beef flesh : 



Water 77.5 



Proteids 16.0 



Fat 5.0 



Mineral salts 1.5 



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 



