A HARD-WORKING DIET. 363 



also a variation in the amount of nitrogen compounds. 

 There is also a considerable difference between lean 

 meat and fat meat in the proportion of nitrogen and 

 carbon compounds. 



A single series of analyses alone taken at any one We need more 

 time of the year does not give us all the information we ai 

 want. We are only on the outskirts of the subject as yet. 



It would appear from chemical analysis, as shown Mackerel 

 in the table, that such a fish as mackerel is well suited the same N. 

 for taking the place of meat as a source of nitrogenous 

 compounds. It is a fish, 'too, which has this advan- 

 tage it is tasty when grilled, and a man not working 

 at home who can grill or fry his own piece of steak, 

 could equally well prepare his mackerel. Herring, Herring, 

 too, which can be similarly cooked, has about the 

 same nitrogen value as pork, though its carbon value 

 is much less. Boiled fish loses its value, a fact which 

 any one can infer from noticing the water, when cold, in 

 a dish on which, say, a plaice has been taken to table. 



This is not a book on cooking, but it must be men- Effect of 

 tioned that the chemical value of a fish as bought 

 and as put on the table are often very different. This 

 is a matter for the wives to think out. It is also a 

 matter for them to consider, that while the husband is 

 using his muscle, the children are growing theirs, and 

 unless all our physiology and chemistry is wrong, 

 muscle cannot be formed without nitrogenous food. 

 It does not matter whether we can explain the " why," 

 the fact seems to be clear. 



Possibly muscle value is dying out ; steam cranes, 

 steam printing machines, steam ploughs, are doing 

 away with the need for any consideration of a " hard- 

 working diet," except perhaps that the need for muscle 



