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typical kinds of food, viz., meat, wheaten bread, and fish. 

 Possessing this, the fitness for man's use of any food is 

 estimated by the presence of those elements which his 

 body requires for its renovation, to sustain its temperature, 

 and to supply force for labour ; and presented in a form 

 which the body can readily assimilate. But we must bear 

 in mind a subject already just alluded to, that the several 

 elements of food which have been named are required by 

 different individuals in very different proportions, which 

 vary according to the daily occupations which such 

 individuals pursue. 



It has fallen to my lot, in the exercise of daily duty for 

 many years past, to observe and to study the views and 

 habits of my countrymen in relation to their diet, and it 

 is impossible not to remark the want of intelligent thought 

 bestowed by people generally on the subject of food, 

 although it is one of which it is scarcely possible to 

 overrate the importance. Thus that large and actively 

 engaged portion of society, designated usually by the 

 term " middle-class," appear -for the most part to adopt 

 an almost uniform dietary, the constituents of which, and the 

 method of serving them, vary little from a certain regulation 

 pattern ; and each person accepts and conforms to it for the 

 most part without thought or enquiry as to its fitness for him. 

 The pattern adopted by the working man, more restricted 

 in kind, is followed in the same unvarying fashion. And in 

 very few instances, even among the best educated persons, 

 can it be said that the individual exercises much discrimi- 

 nation in respect of those external influences affecting the 

 body and conditions of it, which demand selection of food 

 and variety in its character to meet the circumstances of 

 his own particular case. 



I shall name three important factors, always to be 

 regarded in connection with the selection of our food, the 



