I? 



widely entertained, viz., that fish contains certain elements 

 which adapt it in an especial manner to renovate the brain, 

 and so to support mental labour. There is no foundation 

 whatever for this view : the value of fish to the brain- 

 worker is due simply to the facts already referred to, viz., 

 that it contains, in smaller proportion than meat, those 

 materials which taken abundantly demand much physical 

 labour for their complete consumption, and which without 

 this, produce an unhealthy condition of body, more or less 

 incompatible with the easy and active exercise of the 

 functions of the brain. 



I must merely advert very briefly to the subject of 

 climate and temperature, as bearing on the question of fish 

 as an article of diet. Time will permit only the remark 

 that the greater the exposure to cold, the larger must be 

 the amount. of fatty matters contained in the diet ; hence 

 the large use of fish oils by the inhabitants of the arctic 

 shores. While in hotter climates than our own, as among 

 the populations occupying much of the Mediterranean 

 coasts, a little fish suffices in addition to cereals, vegetables 

 and fruit, together with olive oil, to supply an amply suffi- 

 cient dietary. 



The question of age in relation to food, respecting which 

 a volume would be necessary for the adequate consideration, 

 must also be rapidly glanced at here. During the period 

 of early growth, the supply of food both in nature and in 

 quantity must be selected to correspond to the demand. 

 During the period of middle life, that of maximum activity 

 of all the functions, the nature and amount, as already 

 intimated, of that activity must govern the selection of our 

 dietary on principles which have already been explained. 

 Then inevitably comes with advancing years the stage of 



VOL. VIL c. C 



