These foods furnished with nodules on their roots which have the power of absorbing nitrogen from the atmosphere are hence high up in nitrogen and are strong tissue-building foods, - foods for the plough-boy, but not too much of them for those leading sedentary lives. The largely used peanut comes under this head. It is high in nitrogen, yet low in carbohydrates: proteids, 19.5; carbohydrates, 18.5. The soy bean is also high in proteids, 34, and low in carbohydrates, 33.7. This is important in such diseases as diabetes mellitus. The soy bean of Japan is still lower in carbohydrates, thus showing that environment may have an effect on the chemical composition of such foodstuffs. Eaten green, they probably are very much lower in carbohydrates. String beans, fresh and green, are very low in proteids, 2.3, and also in carbohydrates, 7.4. This is important when we want a palatable green food low in proteids and carbohydrates. When we want a strong all-around food, we can take army and navy beans and get 22.5 proteids and 59.6 carbohydrates.

In summing up the uses of these products as food, the Agricultural Department says that these legumes fully deserve the place they now hold on our bills of fare. One or all of them are found in every country as staple food. They are especially rich in protein, the nitrogenous constituent which forms the chief nutrient of meat, and are thus fitted to help out or replace meats in any dietary. Their price is low, and as vegetable foods they come next in importance to breads. None of them make palatable bread. Care in their preparation and in their cooking is of great importance, at once in regard to their digestibility, to their flavor, and to the pleasure derived from eating them.

Let us touch briefly on some other vegetable foods. Macaroni, as we buy it in this country, is of about the same composition as wheat flour. I have not been able to find macaroni high in gluten in any of our grocery stores. I have found one low in starch, made at a New York starch factory. Barley has about the same composition as wheat. Buckwheat is lower in proteids and well up in carbohydrates. Corn meal has 8.9 per cent. proteids, 2.2 fat, 75.1 carbohydrates, and little ash. Wheat flour has 11.4 per cent. proteids, 75.6 carbohydrates, 1 fat, and little ash. Oat meal is very strong tissue-building food, being 15.6 per cent. proteids, 7.3 fats, and 68 carbohydrates. Now look at rice - 8 per cent. proteids, .3 fat, 79.0 carbohydrates, 12.3 water, and little ash. It is easily digested, and, if not eaten with too much fat, is not very fattening.

Tapioca is nearly pure starch. Fresh lima beans have about the same food strength as white potatoes. Green peas have much water, only 3.6 pro-teids and 9.8 carbohydrates. Fresh radishes are nearly all water and refuse. So is rhubarb, but it has oxalic acid, and bears watching. Onions are chiefly water, with a small per cent. of carbohydrates, mostly sugar, and so are parsnips. Lettuce is mostly water, and is somewhat soothing from its lactucarium. Okra is not strong food. Egg-plant is mostly water, but is generally cooked with too much fat. Celery is mostly water, with 1.1 ash, where its virtue lies. Cauliflower has over 90 per cent water, and so has cabbage. They furnish bulk for the stomach to act on. Artichokes have considerable carbohydrates. Beets are over 90 per cent. water, with considerable sugar. The average dried fruits in the markets have little water; proteids, 2 to 3; fat, 2 to 3; carbohydrates, 64.7; ash, 2 to 3.

Let us gossip about foods a bit further. In looking over this list it is interesting to note how nearly alike they run in nitrogen, how much they vary in fats, and how little they vary in ash. Roast beef is scarcely as strong as sirloin steak in proteids, but exceeds it in fat as usually cut. Boiled Flounders are among the lightest of the fish for eating. Smelts are a luxury in cold weather, in fact, are among the few fish whose delicacy of flavor is not affected by icing; but, alas, they are of the salmon tribe and are strong food. Lobsters and crabs are not overly strong food, if plainly served. It is astonishing how high in proteids these elegant fresh-water fish, the white perch and freshwater black bass, are. Perch, 19.1 per cent. proteids, only .4 of fat. Bass, 20.4 per cent. of proteids, with little fat. The king of edible fish, the shad, with 9.4 per cent. of proteids and 4.8 of fat, is quite a strong food. The roe is another luxury very strong in nitrogen, but not very high in fat. If we want to cut our diet, how disappointing is all this. Everything good is high in nitrogen, and nitrogen is poison to many of the good and brave in this world. Where shall we send them for luxuries? Well, thank God for giving us the oyster and the clam and milk! The oyster has only 6.2 per cent. proteids and little fat. The clam has 10.6 per cent. of proteids and 1 of fat. Scallops are stronger, having 14.8 per cent. of proteids. So, with milk and oysters and clams and a few scallops now and then, a little consomme - a very little, for a few tablespoonfuls of soup are always sufficient as a prelude to a dinner - milk ad libitum, even if it must be skimmed, or partly beef has much less proteids than roast beef, and the loin of lamb is also lower. Veal is strong food, the cutlets especially so, but not up to beef, mutton, pork, or lamb in fuel value. It would not be economical food for the laboring man. Pigs' feet are a delicacy, and rather low in proteids. The average pork sausage is strong in proteids and fats. Of the soups, consomme is the weakest, a mere stimulant and appetizer. Mock turtle, as prepared, is the strongest soup. The seeker after light diet might take a little goose, avoiding as much as possible the fat, while he will find turkey and chicken, especially if he eat the dark meats, a little strong in proteids.

When we come to fish we find them disappointingly high in proteids. Tell a man to eat fish as a low diet and he goes unwittingly to salmon. He might as well eat roast beef for low diet. He will get in salmon 19.9 per cent. of proteids and 7.4 of fat. Fresh mackerel are nearly as bad, and salt mackerel worse, and smoked herring are high food. Of course these salted fish are only relishes, and may be used as such, with bread and butter and a cup of tea. Fresh herring and shad are strong and fatty foods. Cod is high up in proteids. What about codfish and potatoes, that grand New England dish? Well, take it Sunday morning, with not too much fat in frying it.

Skimmed, Or separated, or poured, or alkalized, with rice, and white potatoes, and some of the green vegetables, surely one cannot starve.

Here is a caution to observe. If one has, from his environment, to live largely on preserved foods, on canned foods and such, watch for any dyspeptic symptoms which may arise and come on one "like a thief in the night." Many of these products are tainted with coloring matter, antifer-ments, and the like, and, worst of all, may be contaminated with lead from the low grade of tin and the solder used. If indigestion comes on, if abdominal pains are frequent and the bowels constipated or irregular, look well to the food supply, and to the water supply, and thus you may avoid untold suffering and horror, and even painful and premature death.