316 TlMEHRI, 
through the long list of substances, animal and vegetable, 
used by man in the various parts of the globe as food. 
It is to the wide distribution of these substances com- 
bined in so many various ways in such varying propor- 
tion in nature that we find such differences in the foods 
of the people of the earth. These variations are due 
also in part to the influence of the climate on the indi- 
vidual and on the food produced. It is this to a great 
extent that allows and necessitates the Greenlander 
to exist on such a large amount of animal food and fats 
in a cold country where vegetables are scarce, while in 
the tropics rice and pulse with a limited amount of animal 
food is taken. The East Indian lives on rice, the Ma- 
hommedan on dates, some of the Eastern Islanders on 
the sago palm, the Central African on plantains and roots, 
the Kaffir like a great portion of the inhabitants of the 
United States and Canada, on maize. The Irish eat 
potatoes, and the Scotch oatmeal, the Scandinavian rye 
and wealthier nations live on wheat and meal. In the 
West Indian Islands I am told the staple articles of food 
vary in each island, in some like Barbados consisting 
mostly of sweet potatoes and cornmeal (ground maize), in 
others cassava, and in others again like ourselves the 
plantain. 
It is laid down by authorities that the food which is 
best fitted for our bodies is that which contains i part of 
nitrogenous to 3^ or at most 4J parts of non-nitrogenous 
matter. Unfortunately in nature there are few sub- 
stances in which these proportions are found, milk and 
wheaten flour being the most common and important 
but too costly for the people, hence various combi- 
nations are resorted to by the different people to make 
