It will be profitable for us to gain, if possible, a fairly clear idea of the quantities of food requisite for our average man of 70 kilograms body-weight; i. e., the amounts necessary to provide 60 grams of proteid and 2800 calories. With this end in view, we may outline a simple dietary, expressed in terms that will convey a clear impression, showing what may be eaten without overstepping the required limits of proteid or total calories:

The grand totals for the day, with this dietary, amount to 58.07 grams of proteid and 2729 calories. It is of coarse understood that these figures are to be considered as only approximately correct, but the illustration will suffice, perhaps, to give a clearer understanding of the actual quantities of food involved in a daily ration approaching the requirements for a man of 70 kilograms body-weight Further, there may be suggested by the figures given for proteid and fuel value of the different quantities of foods, a clearer conception of how much given dietary articles count for in swelling the total values of a day's intake. Moreover, it is easy to see how the diet can be added to or modified in a given direction. If a little more proteid is desired without changing materially the fuel value of the food a boiled egg can be added to the breakfast, for example. An average-sized egg (of 53 grams) contains 6.9 grams of proteid, while it will increase the fuel value of the food by only 80 calories. Or, if more vegetable proteid is wished for, a soup of split-peas can be introduced, without changing in any degree the calorific value of the diet. Thus, one teacup of split-pea soup (144 grams) contains 8.64 grams of proteid, while the fuel value of this quantity may be only 94 calories. The addition of one banana (160 grams) will increase fuel value 153 calories, but will add only 2.28 grams of proteid. If it is desired to increase fuel value without change in the proteid-content of the food, recourse can always be had to hotter, fat of meat, additional oil in salads, or to syrup and sugar.

Such a menu as is roughly outlined, however, has perhaps special value in emphasizing how largely the proteid intake is increased by foods other than meats, and which are not conspicuously rich in proteid matter. All wheat products, for example, while abounding in starch, still show a large proportion Of proteid. Thus shredded wheat biscuit (1 ounce), which is a type of many kindred wheat preparations, from bread and biscuit to the various so-called breakfast foods, yields about 3 grams of proteid per ounce and approximately 100 calories. Even potato, which is conspicuously a carbohydrate food owing to its large content of starch, yields of nitrogen the equivalent of at least three-fourths of a grain of proteid per ounce. If larger volume is desired without much increase in real food value, there are always available green foods, such as lettuce, celery, greens of various sorts, fruits, such as apples, grapes, oranges, etc. Too great reliance on meats as a type of concentrated food, on the other hand, augments largely the intake of proteid, and adds a relatively small amount to the fuel value of the day's ration.

An ingenious method of indicating food values, which promises to be of service in sanatoria and under other conditions where it is desirable to record or correct the diet of a large number of persons, has been devised recently by Professor Fisher.1 The method aims to save labor, and is likewise designed to visualize the magnitude and proportions of the diet. The food is measured by calories instead of by weight, a "standard portion" of 100 large calories being the unit made use of. In carrvinc out the method, foods are served at table in " standard portions," or multiples thereof. In the words of Fisher, the amount of milk served, for example, "instead of being a whole number of ounces, should be 4.9 ounces - the amount that contains 100 calories. This 'standard portion' constitutes about two-thirds of an ordinary glass of milk. Of the 100 calories which it contains 19 will be in the form of proteid, 52 in fat, and 29 in carbohydrate." In the carrying out of this plan, it is evident that the weight of any food yielding 100 calories becomes a measure of the degree of concentration. From the standpoint of fuel value, olive oil is probably one of the most concentrated of foods, approximately one-third of an ounce containing 100 calories. The following table, taken from Fisher's description of his method, will serve to show the amounts of several foods constituting a "standard portion," and also the number of calories in the form of proteid, fat, and carbohydrate:

1 Ining Fiilierr A new method for indicating food values. American Journal of Physiology, vol. 15, p. 417, 1906.

Obviously, to make use of the "calories per cent" method a table such as the above, covering all common foodstuffs and showing the weight of each food constituting a standard portion, together with the calories of proteid, fat, and carbohydrate in this portion, is necessary. The chief advantage of the method, however, is that it lends itself readily to geometrical representation and affords an easy means of determining the constituents of combinations of different foods by use of a simple mechanism, for a description of which reference must be made to the original paper.