on of the _assumed_ flesh-forming material to the
more peculiarly respiratory and fat-forming capacity, so to speak, of
the food consumed." It must be remembered, too, that the fat _formers_
are ready _formed_ in animal food, whereas they exist chiefly in the
form of starch, gum, sugar, and such-like substances in vegetables.
According to theory, 2-1/2 parts of starch are equivalent to, _i.e._,
convertible into, 1 part of fat; but it is not certain whether the force
which effects this change is derivable from the 2-1/2 parts of starch,
or from the destruction of tissue, or of another portion of food. If
there be a tax on the system in order to convert starch into fat, it
is evident that 2-1/2 parts of starch, though convertible into, are not
equivalent in nutritive value to one part of fat.

It is quite certain that millions of healthy, vigorous men have
subsisted for years exclusively on potatoes; but it is no less clear
that a diet of meat and potatoes enables the laborer to work harder
and longer than if his food were composed solely of potatoes. But we
have seen that the relation between the flesh-forming and fat-forming
elements is nearly the same in both potatoes and meat; so that the
superiority of a meat or mixed diet cannot be chiefly owing, contrary to
the generally received opinion, to a greater abundance of flesh-forming
materials. As the proportion of flesh-formers to fat-formers is so much
greater in wheaten or oaten bread than in potatoes, and as peas and
other vegetables rich in nitrogenous compounds are practically found to
be an excellent supplement to potatoes, it is probable that the latter
may be somewhat relatively deficient in flesh-forming capacity. It is,
however, in all probability the great bulk of a potato diet, and its
total want of ready formed fat, that render the addition to it of animal
food so very desirable. The concentrated state in which the ingredients
of flesh exist, the intimate way in which they are intermixed, their
agreeable flavor, and their (in general) ready and almost complete
digestibility, appear to be the principal points in which a meat diet
excels a vegetable regimen. There may be others, which, though less
evident, are, perhaps, of equal importance. At all events, the general
experience of mankind testifies to the superiority of a mixed animal
and vegetable diet over a purely vegetable one.

_Is very Fat Meat wholesome?_--The enormous and rapidly increasing
demand fo