We have now considered the two principal forms of food, the heat-forming—sometimes called the _amylaceous_—constituents, and the flesh-forming or _nitrogenous_ constituents. But there are other substances which, although forming a smaller proportion of the daily food, are yet scarcely less important. Returning to our comparison of the human system to a steam-engine—we have seen how the heat-forming and flesh-forming constituents of food correspond to the supply of fuel and water; but an engine would quickly fall into a useless state if the wear and tear of the material of which it is constructed were not attended to and repaired. Now, in the human frame there are materials which are continually being used up, and which require to be continually restored, if the system is to continue free from disease. These materials are the mineral constituents of the system. Amongst them we must include _water_, which composes a much larger portion of our bodies than might be supposed. Seven-ninths of our weight consists simply of water. Every day there is a loss of about one-thirtieth part of this constituent of our system. The daily repair of this important waste of material is not effected by imbibing a corresponding supply of water. A large proportion of the weight of water daily lost is renewed in the solid food. Many vegetables consist principally of water. This is notably the case with potatoes. Where the water supplied to a district is bad, so that little water is consumed by the inhabitants—at least, without the addition of some other substance—it becomes important to notice the varying proportion of water present in different articles of food. As an instance of this, I may call attention to a remarkable circumstance observed during the failure of the potato crops in Ireland. Notwithstanding the great losses which the people sustained at that time, it was noticed that the amount of tea imported into Ireland exhibited a remarkable increase. This seemed at first sight a somewhat perplexing phenomenon. The explanation was recognized in the circumstance that the potato—a watery vegetable, as we have said—no longer formed the chief portion of the people’s diet. Thus the deficiency in the supply of water had to be made up by the use of a larger quantity of fluid food; and as simple water was not palatable to the people, they drank tea in much larger quantities than they had been in the habit of taking before the famine. But we have to consider the other mineral constituents of the system.