8 'Cbe Conservative *
there is little wonder that water is ab
solutely essential to health. It dissolves
and conveys other foods throughout the
system ; it assists in removing waste
products ; and it also takes a share in
regulating the temperature of the body
through its evaporation upon the skin.
It is not going too far too say that most
men and women do not drink enough
water to keep the kidneys in a healthy
and active condition ; for an adult , eight
glasses ( tumblers ) each day is not too
much.
One word more as to water. It and
air are the most valuable foods of man
kind , and should be as pure as possible.
The former is not safe unless boiled , and
typhoid fever is duo , directly or indi
rectly , to the neglect of this precau
tion.
If a stove which has no outlet for the
gas produced by the burning process is
permitted in a house , the air , a mechan
ical mixture consisting chiefly of oxygen
and nitrogen , is vitiated by an excess of
carbon dioxide , and the health of the
inmates is endangered. It may be in
convenient to abolish stoves with no
outlets ; it may be troublesome to boil
all drinking-water. But health will be
improved , doctors' and druggists' bills
will be reduced , and the undertaker's
visit may , perhaps , bo postponed for
years by so doing.
Muscular Growth.
It must not be supposed that our
muscles lose substance during work , and
consequently waste away. Upon the
other hand , they consume nitrogen and
grow as a result. The exhaustion of the
muscles is due , not so much to chemical
waste , as to the accumulation of the
waste products of certain foods. The
muscles are really the agents whereby
so much energy , always derived from
food , is converted into actual and ap
plied force. If the muscles wasted , as
was at one time supposed , the heart's
substance would be consumed by its
own work within a short time certainly
within six weeks.
Combination Diet.
The natural laws which are necessary
for the regulation of life and the
preservation of health in the matter of
food-taking now demand consideration.
For the proper support of the human
i i
system , a combination of nitrogenous
'
and non-nitrogenous foods is essential.
The truth of this is proved by the fact
that milk , upon which the infant grows
rapidly , is a combination of both classes
of foods. The egg of the chicken , also ,
is a combination of nitrogenous and
non-nitrogenous foods. But neither
milk nor eggs are , by themselves , a
suitable diet for adults. Bread , or some
substitute of carbohydrate form , must
bo added. Anybody who attempts to
live for an indefinite period upon the
nitrogenous foods alone meat , cheese ,
fish , etc. invites an attack of some dis-
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order of the liver or kidneys ; and those
who confine their diet to the sugars
and starches become weak and sus
ceptible to the attack of the microbes
which cause consumption ( pthisis ) . A
thoroughly satisfactory diet can only be
obtained from a combination of animal
and vegetable products , because the
vegetables , which are nitrogenous
beans , peas , lentils , etc. are difficult to
digest when eaten in considerable quan
tity. The writer has not seen a true
vegetarian who appeared to be in a
thoroughly good condition of health ;
but the so-called vegetarians who , while
excluding flesh-foods , consume animal
products , such as milk , cheese and eggs ,
have without doubt , a satisfactory bill-
of-fare , from a hygienic point of view.
Climate Influences Diet.
In regulating the diet of mankind it is
found that the food of nations is partly
determined by their situation upon the
earth's surface. The northern nations
are largely animal feeders ; the southern
people are , to a great extent , vegetable
feeders. Individual experience and
taste produce among the units of a na
tion special proclivities in the way of
diet. But every one who possesses the or
dinary power of taking advantage of his
environment , and who has , in addition ,
the average elasticity of constitution ,
can modify his meals in accordance with
his surroundings and his pocket-book.
Climate and race , no doubt , have great
influence upon the food of any nation ;
and such variations as are suggested by
intelligent experiment are responsible
for permanent alterations of the food of
large numbers of people.
Food Source of Energy.
From our food alone can we obtain
the energy required for the discharge of
the duties of life. An interesting ques
tion consequently arises concerning the
difference which varying conditions and
amount of labor entail. An adult man
in idleness requires to obtain from his
food for the support of his body about
ovuWs of nitrogenous matter , and
ounces of non-nitrogenous per day.
If , however , the same adult is to work
in the ordinary way , the quantity of
nitrogenous matter be must be increased
to ty ounces , and the non-nitrogenous
to 29 ounces. In the case of active
labor , the amount of food needed must
be increased to some 6 ounces of nitrog
enous , and some 85 ounces of non-
nitrogenous matter.
Daltou , the celebrated physiologist ,
who died in 1864 , considered that the
quantity of food required by a healthy
man , taking ordinary outdoor exercise
was : Meat , 16 ounces ; bread , 19
ounces ; fat ( or butter or oil ) , 8 >
ounces ; water , 16 ounces. These fig
ures merely represent the food for a
whole day , compressed , so to speak , into
a convenient and easily understood form.
Persons in active employment need one-
fifth more nitrogenous food and perhaps
twice as much fat. Indeed , Dalton's fig
ures must be regarded as minimum.
Both age and sex have an obvious
bearing upon the daily quantity of food
which each individual needs. Man , being
as a rule the larger and more active per
son , requires about one-tenth more food
than woman.
As a growing body has to be provided
with material for the creation of new
tissue , it should consume more food ,
relatively to weight and work , than the
adult. An infant under nine months
old is unable to digest the starches , and
should not be given any of those sub
stances.
The brain-worker's food ought to bo
provided in smaller bulk , in more easily
digested form , and in more concentrated
shape than that of a man who works
with his hands. This subject , how
ever , is too technical for discussion here ,
and enough has been said to show how
extensive a field the question of nutri
tion occupies.
In conclusion , I venture to say that
the education of the community in
health-laws , and in the science of food-
consumption , is the only sound basis for
of the all-im
the proper regulation -
portant work of nourishing the human
body in a suitable manner for the duties
which it is required to perform.
Buffalo , N. Y. , June 21 , 1901.
TRADES UNIONS.
It has been said that "there is reason
in all things , except labor unions. " This
is a very broad statement , and its very
extravagance invites thought. So gen
eral a condemnation of so vast an or
ganized system would naturally suggest
that there was some just criticism which
might be made.
The subject is one which deserves
more deliberation than the writer has
given it , but a general understanding of
the principles of economics involved in
such social compacts , enables one to
form an opinion , at least.
Benefits of Organized Labor.
Are the advertised benefits of labor
unions , actually benefits ? The etymol
ogy of the word benefit furnishes the
best and most technical definition. To
make good. In other words , does union
ism moke for the good of those whom
it pretends to benefit ?
They tell us , first , it raises wages ;
second , it protects the working-man ;
third , it increases the self-respect of the
laborer.
If all this bo true , then all-hail the
trades-union. If all this be false , then
let it be consigned to the ash-heap where
many , wrecked , social experiments will
keep it company.
Are They Benefits ?
Referring to the first great , derived
benefit , let us put alongside each
other these two thoughts : the die-
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