Knowledge has value in proportion to the benefit it confers, directly or indirectly, on the human race. Every new scientific fact or principle brought to light promises help in the understanding of Nature’s laws, and when rightly interpreted and properly applied is sure to aid in the advancement and prosperity of the individual and of the community. Proper methods of living, economical adjustment of the intake to the varying needs of the body, avoidance of excessive waste of foodstuffs and of energy, are all desirable precepts, which rational people presumably are inclined to follow so far as their knowledge and understanding of the subject will permit. Here, as elsewhere, false teaching may be exceedingly mischievous and lead to costly errors; while blind reliance upon customs, instinct, and superstitions is hardly in keeping with twentieth-century progress. Modern scientific methods should give us help in dietetics, as in other branches of hygiene and practical medicine. A few short years ago, diphtheria was a scourge which brought misery to many a home, for there was at hand no adequate means of combating the disease; but scientific research has given us new light, and placed at our command a weapon of inestimable value. Do we hesitate to use it when the occasion arises, because it happens to be out of keeping with old-time customs and traditions? No, we recognize the possibility of help, and as the need is urgent we turn to it quickly, with hope and thankfulness that scientific progress has opened up a pathway of escape from a threatened calamity.