To the food naturalists belongs the credit of one of the greatest discoveries of the century - that the living cell must be retained in food to render it capable of sustaining and reproducing the cells of the human body. Biologists know from the study of plant and animal histology that when a gradual heat is applied to the cell it shows signs of life by the movement of its nucleus in the protoplasm, and after passing the cell through intense heat or boiling it in water it no longer manifests life - it is dead.

They also know that the mineral elements taken from the soil by the plant become organic for use in the animal kingdom, and that through the application of high degrees of heat they are returned to the inorganic form, hence cannot be assimilated.

Yet, with these facts so well established in the scientific world, it has only lately been realized that much of the sickness and premature age of the human family results from the attempt to nourish the system with dead disorganized matter, instead of with living substance.

It is but natural that the first hygienic systems of diet founded upon these vital truths should be extreme, or radical, and this is the case. The idea of trying to live upon lifeless cells and being poisoned by their ash and liberated chemical substances is so terrible to the Naturalist that he eats all his food in the raw state and has induced so many others to do the same that the "raw food diet" is already of national reputation. It is the opposite extreme of the "thorough cooking" that has been in popular favor since the advent of the germ theory, and the realization of the necessity of opening the cells of some kinds of food to release the nutrition.

As all of these systems contain qualities that are vital in prolonging life the attempt to save the living cell and chemical organisation, and at the same time destroy active bacteria, and render all food palatable and serviceable, which is not possible with an entire raw diet, has led to another discovery by which food may be cooked to retain the living cell in its highest degree of life activity, thereby combining the essential qualities of all hygienic theories in one simple, practical, scientific system of living, that may be adopted in any family, as well as in public institutions, supplying a universal demand for sustaining health and prolonging the term of human life.