The Physiology of Food and Economy in Diet. By W.
M. Bayliss. (Longmans and Co. 2s. net.)—Professor Bayliss has written a very sensible little book on the subject that interests every one just now. His leading maxim is : " Take care of the calories, and the protein will take care of itself." He thinks that any ordinary diet which produces enough calories, or units of energy, will be found to contain sufficient protein, and that the .text-books exageerate. the amount of protein which is really necessary to a
healthy civilian. The Belgian Relief authorities aimed at giving a uniform ration of 2,000 calories a day. Between this as a minimum and the ration of 3,700 eateries which was available for our civil population last year, there is evidently room for some economy of diet. Professor Bayliss lays stress on the value of the mysterious " vitamins," or " accessory factors," as he prefers to call them, which are the essential constituents of nourishing food. He declares " that there is no benefit of any kind to he derived from the use of alcohol," and that " if the barley were consumed directly by man and cattle, the energy value obtained would be greater than if all the products resulting from its use in making beer were consumed."
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