It will thus be seen that certain foods are better for us than others—a fact which daily observation confirms. Everyone knows that certain articles of diet are indigestible, others not so much so: that some are nutritious, and others hardly of any food value at all. Some foods are better for us than others, therefore; and, if we wish to maintain our health, it is obvious that we should eat those foods, and only those foods, as a general thing, which can be shown to be of use and benefit to the body. If some foods are thus more wholesome than others, does it not behove everyone interested in the health and care of his body—and especially all those interested in hygiene, or the improvement of the race—to endeavour to ascertain what these foods are, those most natural and best for the human body; and, having found them, to advise all who wish to maintain their bodies in the highest state of health, to live upon these foods—or at least to make them the staple articles of their diet? Believing this to be most certainly true, I shall devote myself, in the present volume, to a careful search through the records and evidences of science, and endeavour to ascertain in what man’s natural food consists; and, having found the food which is indicated by nature as the best and most natural for man, I shall proceed to give my reasons for thinking that this food is the most wholesome, and why it is that all other foods must be more or less harmful to the system. This done, we shall be in a position to define what foods are “natural” for man, and indicate why it is that they are the most wholesome.