108. Meats. The flesh of animals is one of our main sources of food. Containing a large amount of proteid, it is admirably adapted for building up and repairing the tissues of the body. The proportion of water is also high, varying from 50 to 75 per cent. The most common meats used in this country are beef, mutton, veal, pork, poultry, and game. Beef contains less fat and is more nutritious than either mutton or pork. Mutton has a fine flavor and is easily digested. Veal and lamb, though more tender, are less easily digested. Pork contains much fat, and its fiber is hard, so that it is the most difficult to digest of all the meats. Poultry and game have usually a small proportion of fat, but are rich in phosphates and are valued for their flavor. 109. Eggs. Consisting of about two-thirds water and the rest albumen and fat, eggs are often spoken of as typical natural food. The white of an egg is chiefly albumen, with traces of fat and salt; the yolk is largely fat and salts. The yellow color is due partly to sulphur. It is this which blackens a silver spoon. Eggs furnish a convenient and concentrated food, and if properly cooked are readily digested. 110. Fish. Fish forms an important and a most nutritious article of diet, as it contains almost as much nourishment as butcher’s meat. The fish-eating races and classes are remarkably strong and healthy. Fish is less stimulating than meat, and is thus valuable as a food for invalids and dyspeptics. To be at its best, fish should be eaten in its season. As a rule shell-fish, except oysters, are not very digestible. Some persons are unable to eat certain kinds of fish, especially shell-fish, without eruptions on the skin and other symptoms of mild poisoning. 111. Vegetable Foods. This is a large and important group of foods, and embraces a remarkable number of different kinds of diet. Vegetable foods include the cereals, garden vegetables, the fruits, and other less important articles. These foods supply a certain quantity of albumen and fat, but their chief use is to furnish starches, sugars, acids, and salts. The vegetable foods indirectly supply the body with a large amount of water, which they absorb in cooking. 112. Proteid Vegetable Foods. The most important proteid vegetable foods are those derived from the grains of cereals and certain leguminous seeds, as peas and beans. The grains when ground make the various flours or meals. They contain a large quantity of starch, a proteid substance peculiar to them called gluten, and mineral salts, especially phosphate of lime. Peas and beans contain a smaller proportion of starch, but more proteid matter, called legumin, or vegetable casein. Of the cereal foods, wheat is that most generally useful. Wheat, and corn and oatmeal form most important articles of diet. Wheat flour has starch, sugar, and gluten—nearly everything to support life except fat.