476 THE HUMAN BODY. 



We have high authority for saying that man does not live by 

 bread alone; in other words, his highest development is 

 impossible when he is totally absorbed in " keeping body and 

 soul together/' and the more labor that can be spared from 

 getting enough food the better chance has he, if he use his 

 leisure rightly, of becoming a more worthy man. While 

 there is, thus, a theoretically best diet, it is nevertheless 

 impossible to say what that is for each individual; but what 

 the general experience is may be approximately gathered by 

 taking an average of the dietaries of a number of public 

 institutions in which the health of many people is main- 

 tained as economically as possible. Such an examination 

 made by Moleschott gives us as its result a diet containing 

 daily . 



Proteids 30 grams or 465 grains 



Fats 84 " or 1,300 " 



Carbohydrates 404 " or 6,262 " 



Salts 30 " or 465 



Water 2800 " or 43,400 " 



People in easy circumstances take as a rule more proteids 

 and fats and less amyloids; and this selection, when a choice 

 is possible, probably indicates that such a diet is the better 

 one : the proteids in the above table seem especially deficient. 

 Experimenting on himself the physiologist Ranke found that 

 when he was in good health, neither gaining nor losing 

 weight, and excreting daily as much nitrogen as he took in 

 food, he maintained this condition of equilibrium on a diet 

 containing 



Proteids 100 grams ( 1550 grains) 



Fats 100 " ( 1550 " ) 



Carbohydrates 240 " ( 3720 " ) 



Salts 25 " ( 437 " ) 



Water 2600 " (40,400 " ) 



Other experimenters have since arrived at very similar re- 

 suits; and such a diet is probably about the normal for per- 

 sons of our race living in a temperate climate. 



