T. König: “Chemie der menschlichen Nahrungs und Genussmittel,” second edition, Berlin, 1882. Eggs with milk, carbohydrates, and fat together constitute a food which, in our opinion, is the most perfect, and one which will enable us to live a longer life in perfect health, even with a complete exclusion of meat; though if we take in addition a little of this latter at dinner we may increase considerably in weight, notwithstanding bodily exercise, as the author found from personal experience and from observations on a series of patients. Therefore, we again repeat that the above appears to be the most beneficial diet to follow if we wish to obey the dictates of health and enjoy a prosperous long life. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ CHAPTER XXXVI. ON CARBOHYDRATES AND FATS, AND THE GREAT ADVANTAGES OF VEGETABLES AND FRUIT. SPEAKING generally, by the title “carbohydrates” is principally meant vegetable food, in the same way that by “albuminous” animal food is mainly designated. Still there are vegetables which contain more albumin in their natural watery condition than meat; thus peas contain 23 per cent. of albumin, whereas lean beef has barely 21 per cent., and fat beef only 17 per cent. But one thing must especially be considered, and that is the fact that a considerable portion of peas (about 28 per cent.) is not absorbed, as Rubner has shown, whereas nearly the whole albumin contents of lean beef is. Most albumin is found in leguminous vegetables, such as peas, beans, and lentils; and these are also rich in carbohydrates, as will be seen from the following table of percentages by Rubner, in which reference is also made to the nutritive value of our most important fresh vegetable foods:— ─────────────────┬─────────┬──────┬──────────┬─────────┬───────── Food. │Albumin. │ Fat. │ Carbo- │ Cellu- │Calories. │ │ │hydrates. │ lose. │ ─────────────────┼─────────┼──────┼──────────┼─────────┼───────── Flour of peas │ 25.7 │ 1.8 │ 57.2 │ 1.3 │ 362 Flour of beans │ 23.2 │ 2.1 │ 58.9 │ 1.8 │ 363 Flour of lentils │ 25.7 │ 1.9 │ 56.8 │ 2.1 │ 364 Flour of rice │ 6.9 │ 0.5 │ 77.6 │ 0.1 │ 351 Flour of Indian │ 14.0 │ 3.8 │ 67.6 │ 3.1 │ 382 corn │ │ │ │ │ Flour of wheat │ 10.2 │ 0.9 │ 74.7 │ 0.3 │ 357 Flour of rye │ 10.9 │ 4.8 │ 70.5 │ 1.2 │ 383 Wheat bread │ 6.8 │ 0.8 │ 57.4 │ 0.4 │ 252 Rye bread │ 6.0 │ 0.5 │ 47.8 │ 0.3 │ 226 Potatoes │ 2.1 │ 0.1 │ 21.0 │ 0.7 │ 98 Carrots │ 1.0 │ 0.2 │ 4.4 │ 1.4 │ 50 ─────────────────┴─────────┴──────┴──────────┴─────────┴─────────