Lastly, our table throws light upon certain questions of household economy. The cost of foods is regulated mainly not by the value of the nutrients contained therein, but by other factors of quite a different nature. Relationship between supply and demand naturally counts here as in other directions, but our demand is liable to be based not upon food values, but rather upon delicacy of flavor, pala-tability, and other kindred fancies, some real and some imaginary. Ordinary crackers can be purchased for ten cents a pound, but if we desire a little stronger flavor of salt and a special box to hold them, we pay eighteen cents a pound. Rolled very thin and thus made more delicate, they cost twenty-five cents, while sold under a special name and perhaps tied with a blue ribbon they cost thirty-five cents a pound. Their nutritive value per pound is the same in all cases, but we pay something for the increased labor of preparation and a good deal for the added attractiveness to eye and palate. We pay twenty-two cents a pound for round steak, thirty-two cents for loin steak, and seventy-five cents a pound for sweetbreads, the high price of the latter being regulated by the relative scarcity of the article and not by its food value. As our table indicates, the real value of sweetbread as a source of proteid is only a little more than half that of lean beef. Its fuel value, however, is somewhat more than that of beef, but a little fat added to the latter will more than compensate and at a trifling cost. When we can afford it, we pay the increased price for sweetbreads simply because their delicacy and flavor are attractive to us. We should not do it under the mistaken idea that we are indulging in a highly nutritive article of food, for as a matter of fact it is not only less nutritive than a corresponding weight of lean beef, but in addition it possesses certain qualities, in its high purin-content, that are a menace to good health if indulged in too freely.

Where expense must be carefully guarded, or where the condition of the family purse is such that conflicting demands must be intelligently considered in order to insure wise expenditure and the greatest permanent good of the many, it is well to remember that price is no guarantee whatever of real nutritive value. Twn quarts of milk will furnish half the daily fuel requirement of our average man and the entire proteid requirement, while its cost is only sixteen cents. Reinforced by a pound loaf of wheat bread. the energy requirement for the day would be fully met, with surplus nitrogen to store up for future needs, and at an additional cost of only ten cents. A mixture in this proportion, however, would not be strictly physiological, since it is wasteful of proteid, but it may serve to illustrate the point. A better illustration is found in an admixture, quite adequate to supply the daily needs of our average man, both for proteid and energy, composed of one-quarter of a pound of lean beef, two-thirds of a pound of bread, and half a pound of butter, and at a total cost not to exceed thirty cents. The con£ra8t of such prices with what is so commonly paid for table delicacies is somewhat striking; it could be made still more so by drawing upon many common vegetable foods, rich alike in proteid and in fuel value, the cost of which is even less than the simple food mixtures just referred to. It is not necessary, however, to enlarge upon this question; it is sufficient to merely emphasize the fact that the exaggerated demand of our present generation for dietetic luxuries is leading us far away from the proverbially simple life of our forefathers, and without adding in any way to the effectiveness of the daily diet On the contrary, it is in part responsible for the high proteid consumption of the present day, with its attendant evils, and involves a large and unnecessary expenditure without adequate return. The wants of the body for food are far more advantageously met by a simple dietary, moderate in amount and at an expense comparatively slight.

A recent writer,1 in the "British Medical Journal," a practitioner of medicine in the Highlands of Scotland, has said that these are "facts of common experience in the Highlands of Scotland, and probably among the peasantry of other countries also, where the old beliefs and customs have not too readily given way to the luxuries of civilization. Oatmeal in one form or another is a daily ingredient in the diet of a Highland peasant. The potato also is a staple food, and is consumed in large quantities with salt herring or other fish, and perhaps in some cases salt mutton or pork. Milk and eggs are used by most. The growing consumption of tea, however, and the increasing relish for sweets, candy, pastry, and biscuits, threaten to destroy the old way of living. A typical day's diet for a crofter or fisherman who still believes in the traditional diet would be somewhat like this:

Breakfast

Oatmeal porridge or brose with milk; bread, butter, and tea.

Dinner

Potatoes galore and herrings, or other salt fish.

Supper

Porridge and milk, or oat bread and cheese, and tea.

"1 have often been assured by shepherds that they could work all day 'on the hill' after a breakfast of oatmeal brose and milk, without fatigue and without feeling hungry, returning in the evening to partake of a dish of broth, potatoes, and salt mutton. In these diets, proteid forms a very small proportion, and yet a hardier race than these shepherds and fishermen cannot be found." It should be added that "brose" consists of a few handfuls of oatmeal, to which is added boiling water, the mixture being stirred vigorously and placed for a few minutes near the fire. It is then eaten with milk, or better, with cream. In the absence of positive data, it can only be asserted that the above dietary stands for simplicity and frugality. Its proteid-content may be low, but the amount of proteid taken per day by these Highlanders will obviously depend upon the quantity of food consumed. Oatmeal is fairly rich in proteid, and it is quite conceivable that the amount eaten daily may be such as to result in a high proteid exchange.

1 Aran Coirce: British Medical Journal, April 7,1906, p. 829.