From the above we see that peas, beans, and lentils have the most nutritive properties, for they contain not only much albumin but also much carbohydrates, and also more fat (except in the case of ground Indian corn and rye), than the other above-mentioned vegetables. Thus we shall not be surprised to learn that we can thrive very well for a long time by using such exclusively for food, as has been proved by the experiments of Rubner and Woroschiloff. The drawback to this kind of food is that it requires the stomach and intestinal juices to perform much more work, for reasons already mentioned; and, in consequence, less of it is utilized; and, after a certain time, the development of stomach and intestinal troubles is facilitated. Another drawback attending vegetables is that they contain purin bodies and form uric acid, indeed in considerable quantities, especially peas and beans, as Walker Hall[266] discovered from experiments conducted in the Caroline Institution at Stockholm. Of the various kinds of cereal foods rice forms the least uric acid, and also, as already mentioned, contains the least salt, for both of which reasons it is the best food for the kidneys. It is, at the same time, a very valuable nutritive food, as it contains a very large quantity of carbohydrates, viz.: 77.6 per cent., and almost the least cellulose of all foodstuffs, as shown in the table above; but it is very poor in fat, and has also but a small amount of albumin. As it contains so little proteid and fat its adoption by people with vegetarian proclivities necessitates the simultaneous use of leguminous vegetables and of fats. It has the advantage over leguminous vegetables in that its starch components are extremely digestible. Thus it is the most valuable vegetable food, in spite of its being poor in mineral matters. Footnote 266: Walker Hall: Berliner klin. Wochenschrift, p. 868, 1903. Granted the enormous value of rice as a foodstuff, we must express our surprise that it enters in so small a degree into our daily diet. In Europe, and in other parts of the world where persons of European descent reside, as also in America, the potato takes the same place as rice does in Asiatic countries, though the former is much less rich in nutritive qualities, as we will show later on. Rice must be a most excellent food, for the natives of Asiatic countries, who live almost exclusively on this, offer us examples of great tenacity, and of resistance against bodily fatigue. Take the Japanese for example. Their coolies, as shown already, are able to do enormous muscular work on rice and fish food, and in athletics, such as jiujitsiu, they present a great example of muscular strength, though it cannot be denied that it is more their dexterity and knack than their superiority in mere strength that leads them to victory. That by means of rice diet, as by carbohydrates, great muscular energy can be obtained, is a well-known physiological fact.