All the different kinds of food material - water, salts, sugar, starch, fat, and albumen - must be combined in our diet, for a substance which fulfils only one of the purposes required in our food will not support life. A man cannot live on water or salt, yet he would soon die without them. If our clothing is torn we do not repair it with sand. So if the muscles are worn out by hard work we cannot replace them by eating sugar.

The albuminous foods, though they are considered the most nutritious, must not be taken in excess, for they will load the blood with more building material than it can use. If more fat be taken than the oxygen will burn, or than is needed for storage, we may suffer in several ways.

Many articles of food do not contain all the necessary elements, and few foods contain them in the right proportion. It is necessary, therefore, to have different kinds of food, and to proportion them rightly, so that one kind will supply what another kind lacks.

Some flavors are more highly developed by combination with other foods; and one great purpose in cooking is to bring out flavors that shall tempt the appetite and increase our enjoyment of food. For food, first by its savory odors, then by its attractive appearance, should gratify the senses of smell and sight, before the sense of taste is awakened. When this is done, the pleasures of taste are heightened; and food that tastes good is more readily digested and assimilated, and we really derive more nourishment from it.

It must also be adapted to the state of one's health, and to the various circumstances of age, occupation, and climate.

In our lesson to-day we have an illustration of the proper combination of food materials.

Neither rice, potatoes, apples, cheese, eggs, nor oatmeal should be taken alone.

Rice and potatoes contain little except water and starch, supplying only two of the needful substances. Large quantities of them must be taken to give sustenance.

Eggs and cheese, though rich in muscle-making elements, lack water, and are too highly concentrated. Apples, taken alone, supply little beside water, and oatmeal alone is dry and unpalatable. But by serving the custard as a sauce with the rice, the milk, egg, and sugar furnish what the rice lacks.

Serve the steamed apple with the oatmeal, adding milk, or cream, and sugar, if desired. The tart apples improve the taste of the mush. Eat butter with the potatoes, and crackers with the cheese. Add salt to everything, and thus have a suitable combination.

Suggestion to the Teacher.

The important points in the lesson are accurate measurement, comparison of weights and measures, care in the breaking of eggs, the beating with a fork in place of an egg-beater, the use of a covered pail as a substitute for double boiler, and the proper combination and serving of food.