The evening times. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1906-1914, 1912-06-14
(New York Worldly

Few people know the composition
of the various foods they eat in daily
life, and fewer still know what foods
are healthful and desirable, or why
one kind of meat, for instance, is bet
ter than Others.
There are many varieties of meat,
all of them, without exception, rich in
protein" or muscle-forming ele-
ments. sc that they have usually been
or men who do a large. amount Of
muscular work. to make good the
losses of the muscular tissues.
Meats are typical of the protein"
class of foodstuffs, and all of them
are rich in this substance.
There is little to choose between
beef and mutton. They are doubtless
the best of all the red meats" Pork
is a fat meat, and for many reasons
often Objectionable.
Veal is known to be more or less in
digestible. so that 1t (and pork) are
usually forbidden to men who r in
training for m athletic event. Meat
averages about 20 to Is per cent of
the muscle-forming elements. which Is
slightly lower than nuts and some
what higher than peas, beans and
some cheeses.
Thus. though meat contains a GER
tain amount of muscle-formins ele-
ments. there are also various vege-
table substances which contain an
equal or v a greater amount. The
question is:
Which is the best form in which to
take this material-in the animal or in
the vegetable form? Should most of
the 'proteid" we cat be derived from
the animal or vegetable world?
To my mind. it is very clear that the
answer to the question would be: In
the vegetable form. And the reasons
for thinking SO are as follows:
Every moment of our lives we are
manufacturing certain poisons within
our bodies-so much so, in fact, that
a celebrated Frenchman has called the
human body a factory Of poisons."
The reason why we do not die as the
result of this constant formation Of
poisons is that We keep throwing them
off at the same time-through the
skin, the lungs, bowels, kidneys and
liver. If this process We're stopped for
even a short space Of time we should
die. This may be proved by a simple
experiment or obstruction as follows:
Suppose we examine a mar who has
been %strangled. We shall find hat his
blood is SO dark that it is almost
black-instead of the bright scarlet
which is typical of health blood. The
reason for this is that the blood has
circulated through the lungs several
times without meeting with the pure
oxygen of the air, and becoming aer-
ated and ''oxidized" in consequence.
The man has really died Of self
poisoning. and not because his air was
shut off for that short length Of time.
From this We see, then, that the
body is full Of poisonous matter, which
Is constantly being thrown off; but a
certain amount always remains in the
tissues.
All this. you ma ythink,. has moth
ing to do with food and diet; but It
has h most important bearing upon
the question.
An OK or a sheep is the same as a
man. in that its body is creating pois-
ons all the time. inc also constantly
| getting rid of them. But a certain
quantity is always present in its It's
Sues.
Now. suppose this OK or sheep is
suddenly killed. All the poisons
which are still in the. tissues. and
OF the body Of h animal had it lived
an hour or SO longer. are still retained
In Its tissues and are poisons.
So that when we eat the flesh of
animal we eat together with II
and at the same time a certain guam.
tity of the poisonous juices which are
inseparable from the animal flesh. All
meat does and must contain a certain
quantity of poison, therefore. and very
harmful poison; and this can never be
prevented when We eat meat. no mat
ter how clean OF healthy the animal
may be.
This is the great objection to meat
eating made by the non-meat eaters,
or 'vegetarians." We should GER
tainly be better off without meat-if
the same materials which the meat
supplied car be obtained from other
foodstuffs.
Can the same muscle-forming ele-
ments which meat supplies be obtained
from the vegetable world? 1t will be
seen that this is the question. It is
one to be settled by chemical analysis.
II appeals be made to this source
Of information 1t will be found that
nuts contain T. larger proportion of
! this muscle-forming element than