GOOD FOOD. 
27 
railway contractor. Oh/-’ lie said_, it^s according to their 
appetites.-’"’ Bnt^-’^ I said^ liow do yon jndge of that ? ’’ 
^‘Why^^^ he said, send a clerk round when they are getting* 
their dinners, and those who can’t eat he marks with a bit of 
chalk, and we send them about then* business."” Quite rig*ht, 
]\Ir. Contractor. No man can work without eating; but he 
must eat fibrine, albumen, and caseine. Instinctively the nawey 
and the author find out the food that contains most flesh-form- 
ing matter. But it is fathers and mothers, and masters and 
mistresses, who feed others by rule, that should know the 
nature of good food.” Above all, it is the Government of this 
country, which feeds soldiers, sailors, paupers, and prisoners, 
that should know these things. After an examination of the 
public dietaries of this country, I have no hesitation in saying 
that the knowledge of what is good and proper food is much 
greater amongst the public generally than it is amongst our 
Government officials. No doubt, great improvements are 
taking place, but many of our public dietaries are at the 
present moment little short of being disgraceful. 
The question, then, comes as to the best way of supplying 
the needed four ounces of flesh-forming matter. Any table 
of food analysis will show us approximately how this may be 
. obtained. It is contained in a pound of beef ; in two pounds 
of eggs ; in two quarts of milk ; in a pound of peas ; in five 
pounds of rice ; in sixteen pounds of potatoes ; in two pounds 
of Indian meal ; in a pound and a half of oatmeal ; and in a 
pound and three-quarters of flour. But it would be highly inju- 
dicious to give any of these things continuously. The system 
seems to delight in variety, and the constant supply of the same 
food day by day becomes disgusting* and is dangerous to life. 
Of all substances used as food which can be longest bornO:, 
and is freest from objection, is milk. Milk is the natural diet 
of the young* ; it contains all the elements of the nutrition 
of the body ; it supplies the deficiencies of other articles of diet ; 
and when it cannot be got both young and old suffer, but 
especially the young. Wheaten bread, next to milk, can be 
longest endured as a single article of diet ; but men would 
starve on bread alone. Hence the necessity not only for 
quantity, but for variety, in food. Variety will not, however, 
make up for quantity : where there is not a supply of twenty- 
eight ounces a week of flesh-formers there is under-feeding ; 
under-feeding means starvation. This is a question of 
national importance. It is vain to expect either brain or 
muscles to do efficient work when they are not provided with 
the proper material. What fuel is to the steam-engine, 
good food ” is to the human machine. Neither intellectual 
nor physical work can be done without good food.” 
