The Health of the State

of vital importance to the health of the people. There is probably no other single factor which more directly affects their physical well-being than the quality and amount of food which they consume. No doubt there are many social factors and conditions which affect both quality and quantity, but primarily the physical condition of the adult depends upon his food. The subject may be suitably considered under four sub-headings dealing with the use of food in the body, the amount necessary, its kind, and its protection. (a) The use of food in the body. Hutchison distinguishes four tests of the value of a dietary to the human body. There is first the chemical criterion turning upon the nutrition and strengthening of tissues derived from various articles of food; then, secondly, thereis the physical which measures the value of a food by the degree of heat produced by its action; thirdly, there is the physiological standard to be met, which in other words is the suitability of a food from the point of view of digestion ; and lastly, there is the economic or nutritive value of foo'd as compared with its cost. Now whilst these four criteria are concerned with the value of a dietary from different standpoints, they indicate to us in the main the two chief uses and objects of food in the human body, namely, (1) to repair the body and build up its tissues, and (2) to produce energy in the form of heat to keep the body warm and in the form of powe...