Senator: “Die Erkrankungen der Nieren,” Nothnagel’s Handbuch. Footnote 283: Adler: Berliner klin. Wochenschrift, 1908. It is best not to give meat to little children nor to persons in advanced years—above 70, or earlier than this if they are decrepit. As found by Baumann,[284] Charrin,[285] Lafayette Mendel,[286] and others, the thyroid of infants contains no iodine; after the first year there is some, but even then very little. Baumann and Jollin[287] also found that the thyroid of old people contained only little iodine, which, as this is the main element of the thyroid gland, gives to such persons less chance of destroying toxic products; and by reason of this no meat should be given either to little children or to persons of advanced age. Footnote 284: Baumann and Ross: Zeitschrift für Phys. Chemie, 21-319, 1895; 22-1, 1896. Footnote 285: Charrin et Bouriet: C. R. Soc. biologie, c-2-339. Footnote 286: L. Mendel: Journal of American Medical Assn., 3-2-’85. Footnote 287: Jollin: Nord. Med. Arch., 1897, Test number. We must also remember, as already mentioned, that proteid food is needed to build up the body, and this is not necessary in senility. All authorities agree that aged people require very little proteid in their food, and Prof. Magnus-Levy[288] accepts this opinion. There is, consequently, no necessity to force them to take meat, neither is it rational to permit its use, for they are more defenseless against the harmful products formed by the decomposition of meat than are younger people, for their thyroids and parathyroids, liver and kidneys, are degenerated. Thus they would be able neither to destroy such products nor to eliminate them from the body. Exception may be made in the case of the aged who are in robust health and enjoying a green old age, for in such we may expect to find more active ductless glands, and they will therefore be better able to resist the dangers of meat food. Footnote 288: Magnus-Levy: v. Noorden, “Pathologie der Stoffwechsels,” i, 472. There are certain precautionary measures that, perhaps, can mitigate such dangers; thus, by the daily use of water in proportion to the amount of meat the end-products of the meat can be washed away. We should also with much meat eat also much fruit and vegetables. Abundant meat diet produces acids in the system; but, as mentioned in Chapter X, by means of green vegetables we can raise the alkalinity of the blood. Whether much or little meat be taken, sour milk, kefir, yogurth, or even ordinary milk and cheese should be taken also. We have not mentioned here another danger from meat diet, which is the putrefaction that may arise in the intestines, but on which we have enlarged in Chapter XIX. By means of sour or ordinary milk, or cheese, the putrefaction can be avoided, through the lactic acid formed.