FOOD—ITS USE AND ABUSE. 
475 
and all the working machinery—vital machinery—of the body. 
Water, though not in chemical combinations in the animal 
body, nor in the food, yet, is as essential to the perfect per¬ 
formance of the animal functions as it is in the inter-oceanic 
commerce of the world. 
“ Blood and muscle, bone and tendon, brain and nerve—all 
the organs and tissues of the body—are built from the nutri- 
ti\e ingredients of food.” Every movement of body or mind 
—thought, feeling, the sigh of sadness, or the emotion of love 
or affection—wastes the elements of body or brain ; and this 
waste must be made up by a suitable supply of appropriate 
food. 
j y^^ e .P r ^ nc ^P a ^ physiological uses of food are to form the ma¬ 
terial of the body and to repair its waste ; to furnish heat to 
keep the body warm and the tissues supple, and to furnish mus¬ 
cular and mental power for the work of life. It is estimated 
that a pound of protein will furnish 1,860 calories , a pound of 
fat 4,220 calories , and that one pound of carbohydrates (starch), 
cellulose and such non-nitrogenous food substances—1,860 
calories. This is a comparative estimate of the vital energy pro¬ 
duced in different kinds of food elements. The French use the 
term calories as a standard unit of heat, or the amount required 
to raise the temperature of one kilogram (2.2 lbs.) of water 
through 1.8 Fall, and its equivalent in mechanical energy to 
1.53 foot-tons. 
Piotein is the most expensive food element ; and if the pro¬ 
portion is greater than 1 to 5 of carbohydrates in that consumed 
by man or animals, that excess is just so much waste. And this 
excess is productive of evil results if in excess of the demands of 
the animal system, and is productive of gout in man or founder 
in the horse, and many other evils, of which it is irrelevant to 
notice here, yet, I cannot refrain from quoting Sir Henry 
Thompson : . He says : “ More than half the disease which em¬ 
bitters the middle and latter part of life is due to avoidable errors 
111 diet, * * * and that more mischief in the form of actual 
disease, of impaired vigor, and shortened life accrues to civilized 
