_Lettuce_ contains a certain amount of opium; and _cucumber_ is widely known for its great indigestibility. Summing up the nutritive values of these various vegetables, then, we can fairly say that none of them contain the essential properties suitable for human food. The majority of them are indigestible and are, by their innate composition, improper foods for the human race. All the nutritive materials which they contain can be supplied in a purer and better form by the various fruits and nuts, while the tough, fibrous nature of most of the vegetables necessitates an enormous outlay of the energy of digestion, which should be conserved and utilised for other and better purposes. The fact, further, that these various food-stuffs have to be cooked in order to render them palatable and edible, is another objection to their use. Even Dr Tibbles, who strongly insists on the value of vegetables as human food, is forced to write in his “Food and Hygiene,” p. 193: “Persons in robust health with healthy stomachs, and leading active lives may eat all kinds of vegetables, however cooked, without injury, except when they are taken in excess.... Those who are only able to digest vegetables, especially green vegetables, with difficulty should have them in the form of consommé or purée. In their preparation, the cooked vegetable is minced and pounded in a mortar until it is reduced to a pulp, and then rubbed through a hair sieve to remove skin and rough fibres.” In other words, it is practically admitted that vegetables are hard to digest at all times, and that as soon as the energy of digestion is lowered, this fact is immediately apparent! This is evident from the directions that are given to remove the skin and tough fibres. On the fruitarian diet none of these objections would be encountered—the bland, soothing, cooling, antiseptic properties of the fruit juices being readily seen, and practically never cause indigestion, no matter how enfeebled it may be, or how sick the patient—provided eating be possible at all—and provided that they do not contain an excess of acids and other substances injurious to the body in its then state of health. Vegetables are, further, a very _bulky_ food, and for this reason, also, I consider them objectionable. X CEREALS