Even though no such dire fate overtakes one, the penalties of excessive proteid consumption are found in many ills, for which perhaps the victim seeks in vain a logical explanation; gastro-intestinal disturbance, indigestion, intestinal toxaemia, liver troubles, bilious attacks, gout, rheumatism, to say nothing of many other ailments, some more and some less serious, are associated with the habitual overeating of proteid food. But excessive food consumption is by no means confined to the proteid foodstuffs; general overfeeding is a widespread evil, the marks of which are to be detected on all sides, and in no uncertain fashion. One of the most common signs of excessive food consumption is the tendency toward obesity, a condition which is distinctly undesirable and may prove decidedly injurious. Undue accumulation of fat is not only a mechanical obstacle to the proper activity of the body as a whole, but it interferes with the freedom of movement of such muscular organs as the heart and stomach thereby interposing obstacles to the, normal action of these Further, whenever undue fat formation is going on in the body, there is the ever present danger that the lifeless fat may replace the living protoplasm of the tissue cells and so give rise to a condition known as "fatty degeneration." While a superabundance of fat in the body is a sure telltale of overeating, the absence of obesity is by no means an indication that excess of food is being avoided. There is here, in man as in animal kind, much idiosyncrasy; some persons, especially those endowed with a long and large frame, tend to keep thin even though they eat excessively, while others grow fat much more readily. As a well-known physician has expressed it, "In the one case, the subject burns, instantly and mercilessly, every stick of fuel delivered at his door, whether or not he needs the resulting hot fire roaring within, while the other, miser-like, hoards the rest in vast piles, filling the house from cellar to garret."

Temperance in diet, like temperance in other matters, leads to good results, and our physiological evidence points out plainly, like a signpost all can read, that there is no demand on the part of the body for such quantities of food as custom and habit call for. Healthfulness and longevity are the prizes awarded for the successful pursuance of a temperate life, modelled in conformity with Nature's laws. Intemperance, on the other hand, in diet as in other matters, is equally liable to be followed by disaster. A physician of many years' experience, with opportunities for observation among different classes of people, has written, "that overeating tends to shrink the span of life in proportion as it expands the liver is demonstrable both directly and indirectly. Let any actuary of life-insurance be asked his experience with heavy-weight risks, where the waist measures more than the chest, and the long-drawn face of the businessman, at memory of lost dollars, will make answer without need of words. Then let be noted the physique of the blessed ones that attain to green old age, and, in nine cases out of ten, spry old boys - no disparagement, but all honor in the phrase - will be found to be modelled after the type of octogenarian Bryant or nonoge-narian Bancroft - the whitefaced, wiry, and spare, as contrasted with the red-faced, the pursy, and the stout. It is true, as has already been mentioned, that in old age much of an adventitious obesity is absorbed and disappears, but the Bryant-Bancroft type is that of a subject who never has been fat at all. And just such is preeminently the type that rides easily past the fourscore mark, reins well in hand, and good for many another lap in the race of life." l

With these thoughts before us, we may consider briefly just what is involved in these new dietary standards that aim to conform more closely with actual body needs. Referring at first to proteid food, it may be wise to again emphasize the fact that the weight of the body, i. e., the weight of the pro-teid-containing tissues, as contrasted with excessive fat accumulation, is one of the important factors not to be overlooked when determining the dietary needs of a given individual. As must be perfectly clear, from all that has been said, the man of 170 pounds9 body-weight has more proteid tissue to nourish than the man of 130 pounds' weight, and consequently what will satisfy the requirements of the latter individual will not suffice for the former. We must understand distinctly that no general statement can be made applicable to mankind at large, but due consideration must be given to the size and weight of the individual structure. We have found that the average need for proteid food by adults is fully met by a daily metabolism equal to an exchange of 0.12 gram of nitrogen per kilogram of body-weight. This means a katabolism of three-fourths of a gram of proteid matter daily per kilogram.

1 Edward Curtis, M.D.: Nature and Health, p. 70. Henry Holt & Com-panj. New York, 1906.

Remembering, however, that the intake of proteid food must be somewhat in excess of the actual proteid katabolism, since not all of the proteid of the food is available, and as this is a variable amount depending upon the proportion of animal and vegetable foods with their different degrees of digestibility and availability, we may place the required intake of proteid at 0.85 gram per kilogram of body-weight, still keeping to maximum figures for safety's sake. Hence, for a man weighing 70 kilograms or 154 pounds, there would be required daily 59.5 grams - say 60 grams - of proteid food to meet the needs of the body. These are perfectly trustworthy figures, with a reasonable margin of safety, and carrying perfect assurance of being really more than sufficient to meet the true wants of the body; adequate to supply all physiological demands for reserve proteid, and able to cope with the erratic requirements of personal idiosyncrasies. It will be observed that such an intake of proteid food daily is equal to one-half the Voit standard for a man of this weight, while it is still further below the Atwater standard and far below the common practices of the majority of mankind in Europe and America, as indicated by the published dietary studies.