3 
The kind of effect upon the system of eating A and C would, 
owever, be vastly different. Good health demands a definite 
relation between the amounts of the albuminoid and carbonaceous 
nutrients, the ratio differing of course with the individual, with 
his condition at a particular time, his environment, occupation, 
etc. Such ratios for the three foods above would be as follows: 
A = 6to (40 + 18) 58, or I to 9.66; 
B = 3 to (20 + 9) 29, or I to 9.66; 
C = 1 to (49 + 31.5) 80.5, or I to 80.5. 
This ratio is called the nutritive ratio and is consulted in order 
to ascertain whether a food supply is composed of the proper 
inds of nutrients. A and B, although one contains twice as 
much nutrient as the other and is therefore twice as valuable, 
have the same nutritive ratio, while C, of equal value with A, 
has a nutritive ratio about as different as could well be imagined. 
S e charge of providing food supplies for large 
numbers of aie whether human or inferior, must, in making 
their selection, consider the feeding value for purposes of econ- 
my, and the nutritive ratio for purposes of sanitation. When 
the individual has a varied supply of food accessible, nature is 
quite likely, through the appetite, if this be not perverted, to 
create a desire for such foods as will give his diet the proper 
nutritive ratio 
I 6 kappa that there are, in both animal and vegetable 
bee very similar series of albuminoids and of fats, so that, so 
far as securing the proper nutrients is concerned, we are equally 
favored by both classes. As to the conditions of these nutrients, 
affecting their digestibility, there is a great difference between the 
two series. In meat, both the albuminoid and the fat are con- 
tained in little sacs or pockets, the walls of which are themselves 
albuminoid in nature. The stomach is peculiarly adapted for 
cee these albuminoid walls, so that the contents are readily 
freed for prompt digestion, in either the stomach or the intestine, 
according io the natural conditions. The nutrients of vegetable 
foods, on the other hand, are contained in cells or sacs whose 
walls are of cellulose, which is a carbohydrate, and is with 
