Until quite recently the majority of English-speaking people have been accustomed to look upon fruit not as a food, but rather as a sweetmeat, to be eaten merely for pleasure, and therefore very sparingly. It has consequently been banished from its rightful place at the beginning of meals. But fruit is not a "goody," it is a food, and, moreover, a complete food. All vegetable foods (in their natural state) contain all the elements necessary to form a complete food. At a pinch human life might be supported on any one of them. I say "at a pinch" because if the nuts cereals and pulses were ruled out of the dietary it would, for most people, be deficient in fat and proteid (the flesh and muscle-forming element). Nevertheless, fruit alone _will_ sustain life if taken in large quantities with small output of energy on the part of the person living upon it, as witness the "grape cure."[2] The percentage of proteid in grapes is particularly high for fruit. Those people who desire to make a fruitarian dietary their daily _regime_ cannot do better than take the advice of O. Hashnu Hara, an American writer. He says: "Every adult requires from twelve to sixteen ounces of dry food, _free from water_, daily. To supply this a quarter of a pound of _shelled_ nuts and three-quarters of a pound of any dried fruit must be used. In addition to this, from two to three pounds of any _fresh fruit_ in season goes to complete the day's allowance. These quantities should be weighed out ... and will sustain a full-grown man in perfect health and vitality. The quantity of ripe fresh fruit may be slightly increased in summer, with a corresponding decrease in the dried fruit." FOOTNOTE: [2] Recent years have witnessed a modification of the original cure. Other food is now included, but I have not heard that the results are better. _Objections to Fruit._