The general principle may be laid down that the ordinary vegetative parts of plants, such as leaves, stalks and roots, contain very minute quantities of any organic nutrient adapted to the use of carnivorae and omnivorae. On the other hand, seeds contain considerable proportions (approximately 10%) of protein and still greater proportions (50 - 75%) of digestible carbohydrate, mainly starch. The edible seeds are mainly limited to the legum-inosae (beans, peas, lentils, etc.), and the gramineae (corn of America, rice, wheat, oats, barley, rye, etc., of the old world). Starch in considerable quantities and small amounts of protein are also found in tubers, such as the Irish potato, tuberous roots, as the sweet potato and carrot and even stalks, roots and leaves when succulent and especially leaves massed together into bulbs, as the onion, may contain appreciable though rather small quantities of nutriment. Sweet, juicy fruits contain very variable quantities of sugar, amounting to about 10 - 20% as usually eaten, including sugar artificially added. The only common fruit rich in starch is the banana and it is important to remember, with reference to the distinction between ptyalin and amylopsin digestion, that a civilized diet contains appreciable quantities of raw starch almost never except in the form of bananas and chestnuts.

With few exceptions, fat is not stored in vegetable tissues excepting in such as have dense, water-proof seed coats, in other words in what are commonly called nuts or may be closely com-pared to nuts. The closely related pea and pea-nut, for instance, contain about 1 and 35% respectively, of fat, on account of differences in the pod. The only edible vegetable parts commonly used which are rich in fat and which are not nuts, are the olive, about 25%:, the peppers, about 8%, and the cacao bean, about, 50%. Of these, the peppers and cacao bean, in the form of chocolate and cocoa (a curious instance of the perversion of terms, due probably to the similarity in sound between cocoa and cacao) are not eaten in large enough quantities to be of importance in regard to nutrients. The cacao bean is, indeed, as strictly a nut as. many other seeds. Per contra, almost the only nut which contains insignificant quantities of fat is the Chinese lichi nut, which is really no more a nut than many other seeds.

The fact is often overlooked that seeds, when ground and cooked, as into bread, crackers, biscuit. Johnny cake, etc., contain practically the same proportions of organic nutrients as before, barring differences due to concentration by drying, minor differences due to the rejection of the seed coats, and other differences due to the addition of other materials. It should also be remembered that our diet could be greatly varied by the general use of meals and flours prepared from peas, beans, pea-nuts, various other nuts, dried bananas, etc.

A great deal of nonsense has been written regarding the loss of nutrients by the preparation of fine flours, especially by the roller process. It ought to be self-evident that, even if there were a considerable difference in the analysis of fine flour and coarse meal, (and the difference is not very great) the body could not utilize any appreciable amount either of the organic or insoluble inorganic constituents of dense seed coats. On the other hand, the preservation of the teeth of civilized man as compared with savages, is very largely due to the less degree of wear on account of the use of fine flour.

It is largely due to the difference in preparation that much less nutriment is assimilated from oatmeal than from wheat flour, as ordinarily cooked into bread, biscuit, crackers, etc. The scales of oatmeal are also a disadvantage in all forms of alimentary atony and organic obstruction. So, too, even in normal individuals, any cereal which is too finely subdivided to be readily grasped in the peristaltic act and yet consisting of particles too dense to be readily softened by the digestive juices, is slow of digestion and tends to remain for a long time in the stomach. Certain cereal breakfast foods, though rich in nutrient are, on this account, of very little value, unless subjected to additional steaming and cooking.

As a general rule, any vegetable product which cannot be reduced to a fairly soft pulp by several minutes' mastication, is not in a state to be well assimilated. So, too, barley as in soup, huckleberries, green peas, kernels of green corn, etc., swallowed whole, are very likely to pass through the bowels almost without digestion. Sometimes the waste of nutriment in this way is very considerable.

Mushrooms. The most frequently used mushroom, ordinarily called "common mushroom" is the Agaricus campestris. Others frequently used are the horse mushroom (Agaricus arven-sis), Fairy ring mushroom (so called from the mode of growth of colonies, Marasimus oreades), puff ball (Lycoperdon cyathiforme), cepe (Boletus edulis) common in France, shaggy mushroom (Cop-rinus comatus).

The only way to distinguish between poisonous and non-poisonous kinds of mushrooms is by attaining familiarity with the appearances of the various kinds, either by technical botanic study or practical horticultural methods. There is no simple chemical test (such as the darkening of a silver spoon) or rule of macroscopic appearance (such as the presence of a cup or of a distinct color) which will exclude poisonous species without also excluding many that are valuable and harmless.

Mcllvane has found about 300 native species to be safe and habitually uses about 100 species, which can be found all through the year except in winter. Excepting the amanitae, he considers that any mushroom which has a pleasant odor and taste and a firm texture when raw, may safely be eaten. Even the amanitae, if peeled and scraped and then boiled in salt water and afterward steeped in vinegar, may be freed from poisonous properties but, on account of the large number of naturally safe mushrooms, it is better not to trust to any such method.

The mushrooms sufficiently poisonous to be dangerous are: Amanita phalloides, whose indecent appearance is well indicated by the name; A. citrina, A. verna (most poisonous of all mushrooms), A. virosa, A. muscaria (fly mushroom), and A. pantherina; Volvaria gloiocephala; Lactarius torminosus, L. rufus, L. zonarius and L. pyrogalus; Russula emetica, It. quelectii, and It. foetens; Boletus felleus, B. satanus, B. erythropus and B. luridus; Entolo-ma lividum.

Mushrooms may be fried, baked, stewed, broiled or otherwise cooked and are often used to prepare gravies for meat. While agreeable as relishes, they are not of great food value. About half of the nitrogen is in non-protein form. The common agaricus contains about 3.5% of protein, 1-5% of fat and 3.5 - 6% of carbohydrate. Being light and bulky, and yielding only 30 - 50 calories per 100 grams, they can scarcely be eaten in sufficient quantity to be seriously considered as foods.

Allied to mushrooms and included in the general group of fungi, are truffles, subterraneous plants, mainly of the genus Tuber, which are commonly gathered by specially trained pigs or dogs, which turn the truffles out of the ground by the sense of smell. The uncertain yield and expense of harvesting them, renders them extremely expensive so that they are rarely used to any great extent. Their food value is about the same as of mushrooms.