From what has been said, it will be apparent why I do not consider grains and cereals valuable articles of food—far less the indispensable articles they are usually supposed to be. As generally purchased, these flours and grains are innutritious, clogging, and particularly unwholesome articles of food; but even at their best, and taking the whole grain, they contain nothing that cannot be supplied in a better state by an exclusive fruit and nut diet. We must remember Magendie’s experiments on dogs. One died in forty days, while fed upon fine wheat and flour, while another dog, fed upon brown bread, lived without any disturbance, and in good health. This should show us conclusively that the fine flour upon the market—the flour invariably consumed—is practically useless as food; but since all the nutritive properties of grains may be derived in a better form from fruits, nuts, etc., the only remaining reason for eating grains and cereals vanishes. XI CONDIMENTS, SPICES, ETC. We now come to consider the various “food accessories,” as they are called—meaning the various condiments, etc., which go to make unappetising food palatable! If the food were natural to the organism, it should need no such appetisers: but I let that pass. Let us consider the relative values of these articles of diet, and see how far each of them may be considered as necessary and beneficial to the human organism. I shall begin with the one in most common use, and one that the majority think they cannot live without—salt! * * * * * _Salt._—The arguments in favour of salt-eating, as found in the books, may be summarised thus: 1. It is natural to man, the habit being universal. 2. It is necessary to life. Human beings deprived of it die. 3. Wild and domestic animals crave and seek it. 4. It is an invariable constituent of the solids and fluids of the body; hence it must be supplied. 5. Cattle, when given it, increase greatly in weight, so that if not itself food, it may take the place of food by making it “go further.” 6. It retards the waste of the system, and in this way may prolong life. 7. It is essential to promote the secretion and flow of saliva and bile. 8. It promotes appetite by rendering the food more palatable. The first three of the above propositions constitute what may be styled the prescriptive or old-fashioned argument. The next four, grouped together, are the chemical theory of the value of salt, and are of more recent origin. The last, though seldom advanced as a scientific reason, partakes of the character of science as well as of tradition.