adjusted empirically (the earlier ones at least), and are generally
considered as satisfactory. They are chiefly of English and German origin.
Another method is to laboriously analyse the injesta or food consumed and
compare it with the dejecta or excretions, until a quantity and kind of
food is found which is just sufficient to keep the body in equilibrium.
This latter plan is the best, but to be quite satisfactory must be tried
on a large number of suitable persons under varying conditions, both of
quantity and kind of food. Nearly all the experiments have been made on
persons accustomed to a stimulating dietary: their usual food has included
a considerable quantity of flesh and alcoholic drinks. Sufficient
attention has not been paid to the dietaries of the more abstemious races
who partake of little if any flesh food. The standard daily dietary for a
man of average weight, doing a moderate amount of work, is variously
stated by the best authorities as proteids from 100 to 130 grammes, fat 35
to 125 grammes, and carbo-hydrates 450 to 550 grammes. There is a
surprising difference of opinion on the amount of fat, but those who give
least fat give the largest quantity of carbo-hydrate and _vice-versa_. Dr.
R. Hutchison in "Food and Dietetics," sums up the quantities given by the
highest authorities as follows:---

Proteid 125 g. ( 4.4 oz.) x 4.1 = 512 cal. = 20 g. N, 62 C
Carbo-hydrate 500 g. (17.6 oz.) 4.1 2050 200
Fat 50 g. ( 1.8 oz.) 9.3 465 38
----------------- ---- -------- -----
675 g.(23.8 ) 3027 Total 20 g. N, 300 C

The nutrient ratio is 1 : 4.9. For scientific purposes, metrical weights
and measures are used, instead of the inconvenient English grains, ounces,
pounds, &c. (1 gramme = 15.43 grains; 1 ounce avoirdupois = 437.5 grains =
28.35 grammes). A calorie is a measure of the power of a food in