When the processes of digestion and assimilation are active, when all the organs are healthy and the body has the power of eliminating and discharging effete products, the intake of food may be in excess of the actual needs of the body, without harm. This is true, however, only so long as active muscular exercise is taken, or great demands are made on the energy of the whole system. Englishmen are said to be the greatest meat eaters in the world, and they carry their carnivorous habits to whatever part of the world they inhabit, whether it be the tropics of India or the wintry plains of Canada; but they are at the same time the greatest athletes in the world, and the people of the most devouring and restless energy. The youth of England expend much of their strength and energy in walking, boating, cricket, tennis, and football, and if they did not do so they would soon become - if they continued the same diet - a dull, phlegmatic, and stupid race.