The simplest, and in fact the _only_ way to settle this question, therefore, is to compare the chemical analyses of the various food-stuffs, and see if any non-flesh foods contain as much proteid as meat does. If they do, and if it can be shown, further, that their proteid is as easily assimilable and as nutritious as animal proteid, then the case will have been won—for the reason that there will no longer be any grounds for defending flesh-eating, upon the basis that that is the only article of diet capable of supplying the body with the requisite amount of proteid. I shall take these chemical analyses from the latest official bulletins—those issued under the supervision of the U. S. Department of Agriculture, and corrected up to 1908. The bulletin from which I quote these tables is entitled “The Chemical Composition of American Food Materials,” and is written jointly by Professors W. O. Atwater and A. P. Bryant. These authors first of all define what they mean by the “composition of food materials,” as follows:— COMPOSITION OF FOOD MATERIALS “Ordinary food materials, such as meat, fish, eggs, potatoes, wheat, etc., consist of: ”_Refuse._—As the bones of meat and fish, shells of shellfish, skin of potatoes, bran of wheat, etc. “_Edible portion._—As the flesh of meat and fish, the white and yolk of eggs, wheat flour, etc. This edible portion consists of water (usually incorporated in the tissue and not visible as such), and nutritive ingredients or nutrient. “The principal kinds of nutritive ingredients are protein, fats, carbohydrates, and ash or mineral matters. “The water and refuse of various foods and the salt of salted meat and fish are called non-nutrients. In comparing the values of different food materials for nourishment they are left out of account. ”_Protein._—This term is used to include nominally the total nitrogenous substance of animal and vegetable food materials, exclusive of the so-called nitrogenous fats. Actually it is employed, in common usage, to designate the product of the total nitrogen by an empirical factor, generally 6.25. “This total nitrogenous substance consists of a great variety of chemical compounds, which are conveniently divided into two principal classes, proteids and non-proteids. “The term proteid, as here employed, includes (1) the simple proteids—_e.g._ albuminoids, globulins, and their derivations, such as acid and alkali albumins, coagulated proteids, proteoses, and peptones; (2) the so-called combined or compound proteids; and (3) the so-called gelatinoids (sometimes called “glutinoids”) which are characteristic of animal connective tissue.