Man, speaking genetically, is an omnivorous animal, and, being a free agent as to his omnivo-rousness, he is constantly sinning against the laws of nature in the selection and consumption of the food and drink necessary for his existence. If he be a savage, he sins less, not from choice, but from the necessity of his surroundings. If he be highly civilized, he is apt to sin more, surrounded as he usually is by the seductive luxuries of a higher civilization as applied to the art and science of cookery and gastronomy. The savage, the uncouth man, may very likely be a glutton. He may eat meat like a blood-hound, starch like an ox, and fat like an Eskimo. He can't be a gourmand. The polished, highly-educated man may be a glutton, yet he may be a gourmand. It only requires a strong, vigorous man with an uncontrolled and uncontrollable appetite to be a glutton. A gourmand may be a polished gentleman; he must have a strong but controllable appetite and a good stomach; his sense of taste must be delicate and cultivated; all of his senses must be highly developed; he should have a sound mind in a sound body. The glutton is a sensualist purely; the gourmand has a marked spirituality combined with his sensualism, and both serve as illustrations worthy of marked study by the student of dietetics.

It is a great mystery to me why the subject of diet holds such a subordinate position in the teachings of our medical colleges, when surely it is of equal if not greater importance than the giving of pills and potions. In the curriculum of our medical schools the subject of dietetics should hold a very prominent place, and such a chair should be established in all.

The analysis of a man five feet eight inches in height and weighing one hundred and forty-eight pounds is, according to Moss, as follows:

The chemical composition of the human body and of the foods we take are quite similar. About twenty elements are found chiefly, with a trace of others. Oxygen, hydrogen, carbon, nitrogen, calcium, phosphorus, and sulphur are the chief. Sixty per cent. of our bodies is water, and probably a like percentage exists in our food. Mineral matter exists in our food and in our bodies to about 6 per cent. of weight.

The chief nutritive materials of food are pro-teids, fats, and carbohydrates. The albuminoids and gelatinoids are proteids. They largely help to form the tissues, bones, etc. They also furnish some fuel, and yield energy, and some parts of them form fat. The proteids are the real tissue-builders. They form the muscles, etc., and also give some fuel and furnish some energy.

The extractives are also included in the proteids, because they contain nitrogen. They are the chief ingredients in beef-tea, etc. Dr. Atwater, a great authority, says they neither build tissue nor furnish energy. They are mere stimulants and appetizers.

Fats we get from meat, fish, butter, and the vegetable oils. If we eat too much, we store in our bodies the surplus as fat. Sugars and starches also furnish fat. About 15 per cent. of our bodies, on an average, is fat. Excessive storage of fat is in many cases peculiar to the individual. This we frequently see. Dr. Atwater says we do not understand exactly why food and exercise do not always control this tendency to fatness. The fats furnish concentrated fuel.

The carbohydrates comprise a large part of our foods. They are chiefly the starches, the sugars, and the fibre of plants, cellulose, gum and dextrin. They produce the fuel for the body, and yield heat and power. Carbohydrates are also transformed in the body into fat, and hence are said to be fattening.

The food we take is burned in the body, and the oxygen from the air causes the combustion. From this combustion energy becomes active, and we get heat and power. The energy developed depends on the kind of food taken. Thus we are enabled to select a diet fit for the hard-worker and one fit for one who does little manual labor. The brain-worker may also require certain elements in his food. This is yet a matter of conjecture and of the peculiarities of the individual. Scientists have not yet worked out the proportions.