COMPOSITION OP ARTICLES OF HUMAN FOOD. 



157 



food would require five such animals, in order to procure the 

 carbon necessary for respiration. Hence we see the immense 

 advantage as to economy of food, which a fixed agricultural 

 population possess over the wandering tribes of hunters which 

 still people a large part both of the Old and New Continents. 

 164. The following Table exhibits the proportions of albu- 

 minous, starchy or saccharine, fatty, and saline substances, 

 contained in various articles ordinarily used as food by Man ; 

 together with the proportion which water bears in each case 

 to the solid constituents of the food, which becomes a most 

 important element of consideration when the nutritive value 

 of different kinds of food is compared : 



* The value of the Fat is stated in this column according to its 

 Jieating equivalent of starch, which is larger in the ratio of 24 to 1. 

 Hence, in the last column, the proportion of nutriment in aliments 

 containing fat, comes to be greater than the weight of their solids 

 would indicate. 



