used; an excess is treated as waste matter, and must be
removed from the system by the liver and the kidneys. The majority of
persons would enjoy better health by using meat more moderately than is
customary in this country.

"_Deficiency of Certain Food Elements._--A diet deficient in any
important food element is even more detrimental to health than a diet in
which certain elements are in excess.

"The popular notion that beef-tea and meat extracts contain the
nourishing elements of meat in a concentrated form, is a dangerous
error. Undoubtedly many sick persons have been starved by being fed
exclusively upon these articles, which are almost wholly composed of
waste substances. Prof. Paule Bernard, of Paris, found that dogs fed
upon meat extracts died sooner than those which received only water."

FOOD COMBINATIONS.--Some persons, especially those of weak
digestive powers, often experience inconvenience in the use of certain
foods, owing to their improper combinations with other articles. Many
foods which are digested easily when partaken of alone or in harmonious
combinations, create much disturbance when eaten at the same meal with
several different articles of food, or with some particular article with
which they are especially incompatible. The following food combinations
are among the best, the relative excellence of each being indicated by
the order in which they are named: Milk and grains; grains and eggs;
grains and vegetables or meats; grains and fruits.

Persons with sound stomachs and vigorous digestion will seldom
experience inconvenience in making use of other and more varied
combinations, but dyspeptics and persons troubled with slow digestion
will find it to their advantage to select from the bill of fare such
articles as best accord with each other, and to avoid such combinations
as fruits and vegetables, milk and vegetables, milk and meats, sugar and
milk, meat or vegetables, fats with fruits, meats, or vegetables, or
cooked with grains.

TABLE TOPICS.

Now good digestion waits on appetite, and health on
both--_Shakespeare._

We live not upon what we eat, but upon what we digest.--_Abernethy._

If we consider the amount of ill temper, despondency, and general
unhappiness which arises from want of proper digestion and
assimilation of our food, it seems obviously well worth while to put
forth every effort, and undergo any sacrifice, for the purpose of
avo