208 UNCONSCIOUS NERVOUS OPERATIONS 



that the energy from the fats is about equal to that from 

 proteids and carbohydrates together. It has been esti- 

 mated by a high authority that a healthful diet contains 

 from three and a half to four and a half times as much of 

 nonnitrogenous as of the nitrogenous foods. 



297. The following table, from Landois and Stirling's 

 Physiology, gives approximately the relative amounts of 

 nitrogenous and nonnitrogenous elements in common 

 articles of food, and shows that, next to human milk, 

 wheat flour has most nearly the right proportion of the 

 two elements. Beef and other kinds of flesh have too 

 much proteid and should be eaten with potatoes or rice, 

 which supply the nonnitrogenous matter needed to make 

 the food complete. Vegetables contain too little nitro- 

 gen to be used alone as food. 



Nitrogenous Nonnitrogenous 



Veal 10 to 1 



Rabbit's flesh . . . . ~ 10 to 2 



Beef . . . . . '.10 to 17 



Beans . . . . . . 10 to 22 



Peas . .. . .' j . . 10 to 23 



Mutton . r / .. . 10 to 27 



Pork . . ' * . 10 to 30 



Cow's milk . ... . 10 to 30 



Human milk . . . . 10 to 37 



Wheat flour ... . . 10 to 46 



Oatmeal . . . . 10 to 50 



Rye meal . . ;' . . 10 to 57 



Barley . . . < . . 10 to 57 



Potatoes * . . . " 10 to 115 



Rice ....... 10 to 123 



Buckwheat . . . > 10 to 130 



298. Variation in the Amount of Food Required. When 

 the body is at rest the amount of waste is much less than 

 it is when the muscles are engaged in active labor. Then 



