Man's food is as varied as his work, more varied than the climate, with one food for the luxurious and one for the poor. The majority of us take what we can get, making no complaints; even when we have a cook and a good one the same is true. The ideal diet prepared by the ideal cook no one has as yet made fashionable, but one thing is within the reach of all--cleanliness of the sewers of the body. Keep the contents of the bowels moving down and out steadily and regularly and you may eat almost any food and in almost any preparation and still be healthy. Just as a steam-engine, running at a given rate of speed, must be supplied with fuel sufficient to maintain that speed, so the human body must have the requisite food to maintain the speed of civilized society and business, and replace the waste of the tissues; otherwise decline sets in and the reserve store of strength is exhausted. How shall we determine the proper amount and kind of food for the various ages, sexes, and conditions of life? A leading authority says that the character and amount of the daily excreta furnish suggestions as to the required food supply. (Kirk's _Physiology_, p. 208.) These excreta are found to be carbon, nitrogen, hydrogen, oxygen in great part, with some sulphur, phosphorus, chlorine, sodium, etc. A summary is given (_ibid._, p. 432) of the expenditure for twenty-four hours: 1. From the lungs: Carbonic acid about 15,000 grains Water " 5,000 " 2. From the skin: Water " 11,500 " Solid and gaseous matters " 250 " 3. From the kidneys: Water " 23,000 " Organic matter " 680 " Saline bodies " 420 " 4. From the intestines: Water " 2,000 " Organic and mineral substances " 800 " Total daily expenditure: Solid matters " 17,150 " Water " 49,500 " Altogether about eight and a half pounds. The credit side of the sheet is about as follows: Solids (chemically dry foods) " 8,000 grains Water, combined or otherwise 35,000 to 40,000 " Oxygen, absorbed by the lungs " 13,000 " Altogether about eight and a half pounds. With the proper balance between the intake and the outgo, the functions of the body will be carried on normally, but the balance must be a proper one; that is, not only must the entire waste be repaired but the correct proportions of one kind of food and another must be observed. If all the elements needed are not furnished there can be no true counterpoise.