We arc thoroughlv convinced that a much larger share of the breakdowns among students, both male and female, is due to poor feeding more than to overstudy . It is an error to suppose that fish or an^ other single article of diet is brain food, muscle food, or food for any particular part of the system. A few years ago a celebrated scientist made the casual suggestion that perhaps fish food might be especially' nourishing to the brain, as there was considerable phosphorous in tne bram and also m the fish. The notion spread like a her- esy, and soon fish of all sorts, big and little, scaly fish, shell fish, and fish with neither scales nor shell, were devoured in unprecedented quantities by microcephalous people and people whose brains were not obviously too small, for the purpose of obtaining the supposed specific effects of a fish diet. A gentleman eager to cultivate his brain and induce an increased growth, ad- aressed a letter to a noted wag, asking for advice respecting the quantity of fish which he must eat per day. The answer he received was a fitting criti- cism on the theory and undoubtedly discouraged the aspirations of the young man> being to the effect tnat a small whale would be about the riffht quantity for a meal. The falsity of the theory has been repeatedly shown by the citation of the fact that the lowest of human races are those that live almost exclusively upon fish. In civilized countries, also, as in the vicinity of large fisheries, whole communities often make fish their almostexclusive diet, and yet there is no evidence that their mental capacity is increased thereby. In lact, the low mental and moral status of these people would furnish an argu- ment on the opposide side of the question if it were necessary to offer such ,aB argument. 660 HINTS FOB THE WELL. It is an error to suppose that people suffering with nervous debility, nau- rasthenia or other forms of nervous weakness, need large quantities of flesh food. It is a very common custom when it is decided that a person has any form of nervous disorder accompanied by weakness or impaired nutrition, to place them at once on a diet consisting largelv of flesh, as oeef steak, mutton- chops, etc. Sometimes the drinking of blood is recommended. That this indiscriminate practice is a bad one we have often had occasion to notice. It not infrequently happens that the excessive use of flesh food is a cause of nervousness, as has been repeatedly pointed out, and we believe that whether its use is advised or not, its use should depend on the condition of the stom- ach rather than on the nerves. A person whose stomach is very feeble mav be enable to digest sufficient vegetable food to replenish the tissues, for suca persons a flesh diet or a mixed diet will be found to be very advantageous.

AI-modernized reading of the original text

We arc thoroughly convinced that a much larger share of the breakdowns among students, both male and female, is due to poor feeding more than to overstudy. It is an error to suppose that fish or any other single article of diet is brain food, muscle food, or food for any particular part of the system. A few years ago a celebrated scientist made the casual suggestion that perhaps fish food might be especially nourishing to the brain, as there was considerable phosphorous in the brain and also m the fish. The notion spread like a heresy, and soon fish of all sorts, big and little, scaly fish, shell fish, and fish with neither scales nor shell, were devoured in unprecedented quantities by microcephalous people and people whose brains were not obviously too small, for the purpose of obtaining the supposed specific effects of a fish diet. A gentleman eager to cultivate his brain and induce an increased growth, addressed a letter to a noted wag, asking for advice respecting the quantity of fish which he must eat per day. The answer he received was a fitting criticism on the theory and undoubtedly discouraged the aspirations of the young man, being to the effect tnat a small whale would be about the right quantity for a meal. The falsity of the theory has been repeatedly shown by the citation of the fact that the lowest of human races are those that live almost exclusively upon fish. In civilized countries, also, as in the vicinity of large fisheries, whole communities often make fish their almost exclusive diet, and yet there is no evidence that their mental capacity is increased thereby. In lact, the low mental and moral status of these people would furnish an argument on the opposite side of the question if it were necessary to offer such an argument. 660 HINTS FOB THE WELL. It is an error to suppose that people suffering with nervous debility, neurasthenia or other forms of nervous weakness, need large quantities of flesh food. It is a very common custom when it is decided that a person has any form of nervous disorder accompanied by weakness or impaired nutrition, to place them at once on a diet consisting largelv of flesh, as beef steak, muttonchops, etc. Sometimes the drinking of blood is recommended. That this indiscriminate practice is a bad one we have often had occasion to notice. It not infrequently happens that the excessive use of flesh food is a cause of nervousness, as has been repeatedly pointed out, and we believe that whether its use is advised or not, its use should depend on the condition of the stomach rather than on the nerves. A person whose stomach is very feeble may be able to digest sufficient vegetable food to replenish the tissues, for suca persons a flesh diet or a mixed diet will be found to be very advantageous.

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