OPINIONS OF DR. PROUT. 925 



animals : but that an exclusive diet of muscular 

 flesh, raw bones, or gluten, is capable of complete 

 and prolonged nutrition. (Pereira's Lect. on 

 Foods, Pharm. Journal, Oct. 1842.) Hence the 

 vast importance to health of a mixed and varied 

 diet, as indicated by the appetite, and the di- 

 versity of aliments supplied by nature. 



There is reason to believe that the best pos- 

 sible nourishment for man is a mixture of animal 

 and vegetable food in such proportions as to 

 produce a composition resembling milk, which 

 Dr. Prout very justly regards as the model of 

 what our aliments should be in after life. He 

 observes, that nearly all our artificial combina- 

 tions of food are nothing more nor less than 

 disguised imitations of the prototype milk ; and 

 that the more nearly they approach this model, 

 the more nearly do they approach perfection. 

 For example, by adding to flour fat, sugar, and 

 eggs, as in making pastry, we have a composition 

 very nearly analogous to that of milk, which was 

 evidently intended by nature for the nourish- 

 ment of animals during a considerable period of 

 their existence. Now it will be seen from the 

 following analyses of O. Henry and Chevallier, 

 that the average proportion of caseine in milk of 

 the cow, ass, goat, and ewe, is as 1, to 2'23 parts 

 of oil and sugar ; while in that of woman, the 

 difference is as 1 to 5-76. 



