14 
GOOD FOOD. 
BY EDWIN LANKESTER^ M.D. 
*o* 
M an, in his wild and harharons state, like the lower ani- 
mals, is enabled by his instincts to obtain from the 
external world those substances which, under the name of food, 
maintain his existence. It is as he advances in civilisation, and 
becomes more and more dependent on his intelligence, that he 
is obliged to use his reason, and to select those foods which 
are best adapted to the new circumstances in which he is 
placed. Thus in a wild and semi-barbarons condition, large 
quantities of food are easily consumed which are utterly in- 
compatible with the health of man in a more civilised state. 
We also find that man in his civilised condition, by his power 
of consuming a variety of foods, is enabled to ward off many 
diseases which rapidly destroy the life of those who are in a 
barbarous condition. The fact that the civilised races of 
Europe are less exposed to plague and other pestilences, to 
scrofula, and many other wasting diseases, depends as much 
or more on a due supply of healthy food than on all other 
causes put together. How such beneficial effects are pro- 
duced it will be the object of this paper to show, by an 
explanation of some of the laws which govern supply and 
demand with regard to food in the human system. 
If we carefully study the nature of our daily food, we shall 
find that it is by its agency that all the functions of our body 
are carried on ; that by the aid of fresh supplies of food we 
live. It is an easy experiment that will satisfy of this fact. 
If we get up in 4he morning and go to our work without 
breakfast, continue it till dinner-time without partaking of 
that meal, and go to bed without supper, we shall find how 
thoroughly all mental and bodily exertion depends upon our 
food. If we performed this experiment, and weighed ourselves 
in scales from hour to hour, we should find that we were 
growing small by degrees ; and should we withhold nourish- 
ment for a sufficient length of time, death would most 
certainly ensue. 
If we examine a little more closely this question of food, we 
shall find that the chemical elements of the food we take are 
precisely the same as those of the body. I have calculated 
