248 TiMEHRI. 



SO that the highest value (return) may be obtained 

 from it ? There are of course many, but the primary one 

 of all is proper Food. 



And this for convenience may be divided into— 



1. The Oxygen i.e. the air we breathe 



2. The water we drink 



3. The ordinary food stuff we eat. 



There are many other ways of classifying foods, as every 

 one is aware, but this is the most suited to my purpose, 

 and in this paper I only wish to draw attention to the 

 first division as given above, reserving the- other two 

 and some other general conditions of the surroundings, 

 such as clothing, sleep, work, and so on, to some future 

 occasion. Pure air is the first necessary food for us all. 

 That air is absolutely required for the maintenance 

 of animal life is commonly known ; but the further 

 essential that it should be pure, if healthy living is to be 

 obtained is far from being as widely appreciated as it 

 should be, We all know that deprived of air (oxygen) 

 human life ceases in a few minutes — even the pearl-divers 

 oi the East, nien trained to do without air for com- 

 paratively long periods, only stay about 4^ minutes 

 under water ; but do we all thoroughly understand what 

 the effe6l of breathing impure air, even for a short time, 

 is? I think not, and few there are who truly appreciate 

 the effe6t of long continued breathing of a vitiated 

 atmosphere. 



Oxygen exists in the air around us in the proportion 

 of one volume to every five of air. The other four 

 volumes being of the gas nitrogen, which from our 

 present point of view only plays the part of a diluent, 

 so that we may have the oxygen in the proper strength 



