6 
CLIBRANS’ LIST OF FRUITS, 1908.9. 
I am growing daily more and more convinced of the great importance 
of nuts and nut butters and nut oils for food. It is often objected that nuts 
are indigestible, and this is true of all foods that are swallowed without 
mastication ; but nowadays the difficulty is entirely obviated by the process 
of putting the nuts through a nut mill or using them malted. An Orange’s 
nut mill will at once transform shelled barcelonas or walnuts, brazils or 
almonds, into a fluffy, snowy meal— dainty, digestible, and full of nutrient 
fat. 
The two classes of fruits I have mentioned— the sweet fruits and the fat 
fruits— make an ideal combination, and I know few dishes more delightful 
than some good Tafilat dates with the stones removed and the spaces filled 
up with walnut meal. The result is a sandwich of exquisite flavour and of 
great nutritive value in a small compass. 
The immense value of fat as a powerful food is shown by the fact that 
ten grains of fat will, by combination with oxygen, develop enough heat to 
raise 23-30 lb. of water one degree Fahrenheit ; that is, the equivalent to 
the power of raising 18 003 lb. one foot high. 
The malted nuts are now sold under many names, and turn out in 
appearance and flavour very like potted tongue, only much richer in fatty 
elements. I believe there is a great industry ahead for those who take up 
extensive nut culture coupled with a nut meat factory. 
4. Albuminous Matters. — N ow it is here that so many people 
imagine that fruits are deficient in food value. Liebig laid so much stress 
on proteids and their constituent nitrogents that, ever since, people have 
been scared lest they should weaken and die unless they took an ample 
supply of this element. I can only very shortly deal with this vital subject 
here, but let me emphasise upon you all — 
First, that Liebig’s theories are not now held by the best physiological 
dietists. 
Secondly, that Carl Voit and his school, who still uphold the need for a 
high ratio of proteids, lay down the law that “a diet which contains the 
smallest amount of proteid that will suffice to keep the bodv in a state of 
continual vigour is the ideal diet,” because proteids, as they are being used 
up in the body, produce decomposition products which are a constant 
menace to the welfare of the body, and any surplus proteid therefore may 
be an actual source of active injury to the system. This is seen in cases of 
gout and kidney disease, as the result of waste uric acid in the system. 
Thirdly, that the latest experiments, as, for example, those o’f Jaffa on 
the fruitarians of California, and Kumagaiva’s experiments on the diet of 
the Japanese, Chittenden’s experiments on sedentarv and active workers in 
America, and my own experiments of this year have proved, I think, con- 
clusively, that the ordinary proteid ratio is far too high, and may be cut 
down by 50 pec cent, with the greatest advantage so long only as a suf- 
ficiency of fat is provided. 
Fourthly, that even if the old high ratio were maintained, there is ample 
store of proteid in certain forms of fruits. If we go to the fruits of the 
legumes and include beans, peas, lentils, and dahls, w-e get an immense 
store of proteid in a most concentrated form, so that the addition of even 
a small portion of any of these fruits at once brings up the day’s rations to 
a high proteid level. 
I11 the same way the cerealin of wheat and other cereals gives us the 
proteid we require in a very delightful and digestible form. 
It is true that I should need to eat four pounds of pears to get as much 
proteid as is found in one egg, but if I use my pears to obtain the water 
and the sugar, and take almonds and pistachios or walnuts or peanuts to 
provide the albumen and the fat, I get a highly scientific combination of 
complete nutrition. 
I know few combinations in the whole range of foods more perfect than 
