DIETETICS. 447 



the oxidation of fats and carbohydrates. Between fats and 

 carbohydrates similar considerations lead to a use of the latter 

 when practicable: starch is more easily utilized in the Body 

 than fats, as shown by the manner in which it protects the 

 latter from oxidation; and a given weight of starch fully 

 oxidized in the Body will liberate about one half as much 

 energy as the same amount of butter, while it costs consider- 

 ably less than half the money. Also, starch is more easily 

 digested than fats by most persons: children especially are 

 apt to be fond of starchy or saccharine foods and to loathe 

 fats; and the appetite in such cases is a good guide. As a 

 race the American people differ very markedly from the 

 English in their love of sweet foods of all kinds; whether 

 this is correlated with their characteristic activity, calling 

 for some food that can be rapidly used, is an interesting 

 question, to which, however, it would be rash to give at 

 present an affirmative answer. 



It is certain that no general rules for the best dietary 

 for all persons can be formulated, but on broad principles 

 the best diet is that which contains just the amount of 

 proteid necessary for tissue repair, and so much carbo- 

 hydrates as can be well digested ; the balance needed, if 

 any, being made up by fats. Such a food would be the 

 cheapest; that is the supplying of it would call for less of 

 the time and energy of the nation using it, and leave more 

 work to spare for other pursuits than food production 

 for all the arts which make life agreeable and worth living, 

 and which elevate civilized man above the merely material 

 life of the savage whose time is devoted to catching and eat- 

 ing. We have high authority for saying that man does 

 not live by bread alone; in other words his highest develop- 

 ment 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 indi- 

 vidual; but what the general experience is may be approxi- 

 mately gathered by taking an average of the dietaries of a 



