recognized or considered by the average writer on dietetics, who eulogizes wheat as the wonderful "staff of life," because certain food tables show that wheat contains 13 per cent, while corn contains only 10 per cent of proteids. It is neither the proteid nor the carbohydrate content that determines the value of any grain as food, but rather the proportions of the different elements of nutrition it contains, that being the best which is more nearly balanced to meet the requirements of the human organism.

Rye may be considered in the same class as wheat. Chemically, the contents are very similar, and the effects upon the body are very much the same. It contains a larger per cent of cellulose, and less gluten than wheat, therefore as a remedial food it is superior to all other grains for exciting intestinal peristalsis, thereby removing the causes of constipation.

The nutritive elements of barley are similar to those of wheat and rye. It contains less cellulose fiber, and therefore a larger per cent of digestible nutrients than any one of the cereal group except rice. It has never become popular as a bread-making grain because—

1 The nitrogenous or gluten substances are not tenacious enough to make the conventional "raised" bread

2 The flour is dark in color

3 The grain is so hard and "flinty" that it is very difficult to mill it down to the required fineness

For these reasons barley has been greatly neglected as a food commodity. From a chemical standpoint it deserves a much higher place in our dietaries than it has hitherto been given.

The composition of oats varies somewhat from that of wheat, rye and barley. They contain a larger proportion of both fat and proteids, and form a desirable food if correctly prepared. The objection to oats as an article of diet is the hasty manner in which they are usually prepared, which converts them into a gummy mass of gelatinized starch, entangled with the peculiar gummy proteid of the oat grain. Thus prepared the oat is a most prolific source of disturbed digestion.

Corn is the cheapest material capable of nourishing the human body that is produced in the temperate zone. It is less digestible, and more deficient in the salts than the group of grains thus far mentioned. It is very wholesome, however, but in no way superior to other grains. In the future corn will probably play an increasing part in the problem of feeding the world, as a cheap source of carbohydrates, and for the purpose of manufacturing glucose.

In all tropical and semi-tropical countries rice occupies the same position that corn does in the temperate zone. It is more deficient in proteids and in fat than any other food grain, while the starch of rice is more easily digested than any other form of cereal starch. This grain, however, is almost entirely devoid of mineral constituents, and for this reason it is productive of serious nutritive derangements when indulged in too freely. This deficiency can be overcome by taking a liberal quantity of green salads, or fresh vegetables, whenever rice is eaten.

Buckwheat is a grain whose consumption is very limited, owing to the fact that it is dark in color. It compares favorably with wheat and corn as to nutritive elements, and is now much used as a winter food by the northern people.

USES OF GRAINS

The use of grains as an article of food may be considered under three headings:

1 As a source of energy

2 As a source of nitrogen

3 Grain as a remedial food; that is, as a source of cellulose or roughness, for the regulation of intestinal action

(1) GRAIN AS A SOURCE OF ENERGY

All grains are composed largely of starch, therefore the question of energy to be derived from this source is one of assimilation and use. The use of grains in the diet deserves the most careful consideration, and the study should not be confined to any particular grain, but to the entire group, and especially to the method of preparation, and the quantity that should be consumed under the varying conditions of age, temperature of environment, and work or activity. The conventional American diet contains such an abnormal quantity of grain-starch, and the methods of preparation are so unnatural, that the Food Scientist, in practise, will find many people whose digestive organs have become so deranged that he may deem it necessary to prohibit grain-starch almost entirely.

The grown person, pursuing the ordinary sedative occupation, should not eat more than three or four ounces of cereal food a day, while the manual laborer should not consume more than five or six ounces each twenty-four hours. This quantity contemplates cool, or winter weather. In summer this quantity should be reduced according to work or activity.

(2) GRAIN AS A SOURCE OF NITROGEN

Grain as a source of proteid has received undue consideration in hygienic works. Upon an allowance of one-fourth of a pound of grain per day, which would make four vienos, with a nitrogen factor of six, we see that 24 decigrams of nitrogen would be supplied from the grain. The variations between the proteids contained in two varieties of breakfast food is seldom more than two or three per cent. This would amount to a variation in the daily intake of nitrogen of about five decigrams, an amount too little to be worth consideration.

Grain proteids are not so easily digested as are the proteids of eggs, milk and nuts. The following list of grains and grain products is given in the order of the digestible nitrogen they contain:

1 Gluten or dietetic foods
2 Barley
3 Macaroni
4 White flour
5 Whole wheat—Graham flour
6 Rye
7 Oatmeal
8 Corn products
9 Buckwheat
10 Rice
11 Pure starches

(3) GRAIN AS A REMEDIAL FOOD