Importance of proper selection and preparation of food - Improper feeding common among all classes, and at all periods of life - The purpose and the elements of food - To repair the waste of the body, to maintain the animal heat, and provide a store of energy for activity - 1. The proteids, or nitrogenous elements - 2. The hydro - carbons, or fats - 3. Carbo-hydrates - 4. Inorganic elements : water, various salts - All these obtainable from animal and vegetable kingdoms - Comparison between elements derived from the two sources - Difference between digestive organs in animals eating only vegetables and those consuming animal food also - Man accustomed to "a mixed diet" - In some regions can live only on animal food - Climate decides proportion of animal food necessary - Few persons can live solely on vegetables in temperate zone - Mixed diet of monkey tribes - Personal peculiarities in diet - Desirable to utilize all sources of food from both kingdoms.

I Think I shall not be far wrong if I say that there are few subjects which deserve more careful study by man than the selection and preparation of his food. Our forefathers in their wisdom have provided, by ample and generously endowed organizations, for the dissemination of moral precepts in relation to human conduct,and for the constant supply of sustenance to meet the cravings of religious emotions common to all sorts and conditions of men. In these provisions no student of human nature can fail to recognize the spirit of wisdom and a lofty purpose. But it is not a sign of ancestral wisdom that so little thought has been bestowed on the teaching of what we should eat and drink; or on the relations necessarily existing not only between food and a healthy population, but between food and a virtuous life.