There is considerable misunderstanding as to the effects of taking liberal amounts of meat. The meat eating of the people of America and parts of Europe is largely confined to muscle cuts. It is to be regretted that excessive meat eaters very frequently derive the greater part of the remainder of their food supply from degerminated cereal products and tubers. Such diets are faulty in several respects. They tend to contribute to the early deterioration of the tissues, and for reasons quite apart from the amount of meat consumed. Results due to faulty diet are not infrequently attributed to the meat fraction, when in reality other components of the food supply may be said to contribute in an important degree to the bad effects observed. It frequently happens that the other food components fail to supplement the meat, and correct its deficiencies. Success has been attained with laboratory animals restricted to a diet of muscle meat supplemented with such substances as are necessary to make it a complete food. The good development and vigor of carnivorous, animals lies in the choice of parts of their victims so as to make a satisfactory adjustment of the necessary food essentials. This success serves to illustrate a principle which must not be lost sight of in interpretation of the cause of nutritive disturbances. The diet must be considered as a whole, and an accurate estimate made as to the degree of completeness of every essential factor. Since, in this country the term "high protein diet" is generally synonymous with "high meat diet," it will be seen that disturbances of nutrition believed to be referable to excessive protein ingestion, may well be due, not so much to the amount of protein eaten, but to failure to take a complete diet. Such a diet is only to be secured through the proper selection of foods which make good each other's deficiencies. It is the completeness of the diet rather than an unusual amount of some one factor which is the most important consideration.