ly agreed that the main function of food is to
repair the tissues of the body. Other effects are present, such as
pleasure and sociability, but its chief benefit is reparative, so we
may well regard the subject from a strictly utilitarian standpoint and
inquire how we may produce the highest efficiency from our eating. Some
of the important questions about eating are, how much to eat, what kind
of food to eat, when to eat, what are the most favorable conditions for
eating?

The quantity of food to be taken varies with the demands of the
individual appetite and the individual powers of absorption. In
general, one who is engaged in physical labor needs more, because of
increased appetite and increased waste of tissues. So a farm-hand needs
more food than a college student, whose work is mostly indoors and
sedentary. Much has been said recently about the ills of overeating.
One of the most enthusiastic defenders of a decreased diet is Mr.
Horace Fletcher, who, by the practice of protracted mastication,
"contrives to satisfy the appetite while taking an exceptionally small
amount of food. Salivary digestion is favored and the mechanical
subdivision of the food is carried to an extreme point. Remarkably
complete digestion and absorption follow. By faithfully pursuing this
system Mr. Fletcher has vastly bettered his general health, and is a
rare example of muscular and mental power for a man above sixty years
of age. He is a vigorous pedestrian and mountain-climber and holds
surprising records for endurance tests in the gymnasium.

"The chief gain observed in his case, as in others which are more or
less parallel, is the acquiring of immunity to fatigue, both muscular
and central. It is not claimed that the sparing diet confers great
strength for momentary efforts--'explosive strength,' as the term
goes--but that moderate muscular contractions may be repeated many
times with far less discomfort than before. The inference appears to be
that the subject who eats more than is best has in his circulation and
his tissues by-products which act like the muscular waste which is
normally responsible for fatigue. According to this conception he is
never really fresh for his task, but is obliged to start with a
handicap. When he reduces his diet the cells and fluids of his body
free themselves of these by-products and he realizes a capacity quite
unguessed in the past.

"The same assumption explains the fact mentioned by Mr. Fletcher