In diet, climate is a very important matter to take into consideration. The Eskimo needs, from his environment, much fat to keep up the heat of his body; but what would the inhabitant of the tropics do with blubber, as a main article of diet, living constantly as he does under the hot rays of an equatorial sun? Our soldiers in the tropics do not want blubber; but experience shows that we must still keep some fat in their ration.

According to George Waldron, the people of Ireland eat more white potatoes than any other country, - a daily average of four pounds per person. Germany comes next, and Italy last, consuming only forty-eight pounds per person per year. The United States consumes two hundred pounds per person per year. In wheat France leads the list, using four hundred and sixty-seven pounds per person per year. Canada comes next. The United States consumes two hundred and forty pounds per person per year. Japan uses only twenty-two pounds per person per year, which is just the amount of rye used by each person in the United States. Norway uses the most oats per person, being one hundred and twelve pounds per person per year. England, including Scotland and Ireland, uses only twelve pounds of oats per person per year, - very remarkable, so much of it being used in Scotland, and such an ideal food for the climate.

In meats the United States stands at the head, using one hundred and forty-seven pounds per person per year. Italy uses the least, as her climate might indicate, - twenty-four pounds per person per year. The United States also uses more eggs than any other country per person, - one hundred and twenty-three per year. Of rice the United States uses only four pounds per person per year. Great Britain uses nine pounds, and the province of Bombay, India, uses five hundred and forty-seven pounds per person per year. Here we see how climate influences the diet.

Of sugar Great Britain uses the most, eighty pounds for each inhabitant per year. The United States uses seventy-three pounds, and Spain only seven pounds. In tea Great Britain leads, - about six pounds per person per year. We use about one and a half pounds per person. Russians use only nine ounces per person per year, and yet they are supposed to be a tea-drinking people. Here we see the condition as shown by diet, - the masses being too poor to drink much tea. Of coffee the Netherlands use the most, over twenty-three pounds per person per year, whilst we in the United States use nearly twelve pounds and England uses only one-fifth of a pound. Russia uses only three ounces per person per year.

In malt liquors Great Britain takes the lead, thirty gallons to each person per year, actually leading Germany by three gallons per person. We use eighteen gallons per person per year. In the wine-drinking countries comparatively little is used, although it is increasing in France, she now using six gallons per person per year. Spain uses only a little over one pint, but in wine consumption Spain leads the world, - thirty-five gallons to each person per year. France uses twenty-nine gallons, and Italy, twenty-four gallons. It is interesting to note that the United Kingdom uses less than two quarts of wine per person per year. Her climate demands something stronger. Surprising to say, Germany uses only a little over one gallon of wine per person per year. In the United States the consumption of wine is rapidly increasing, but it is yet only two quarts to each person per year, making the respectable quantity of thirty-eight million gallons. Russia and Great Britain and her colonies are among the great spirit-drinking countries, and climate here is the great factor in determining the quantity consumed. Some recent statistics from Washington are both gratifying and surprising. They show that the amount of distilled liquors consumed by the people of the United States per capita has dropped from 2.5 to 1.48 gallons annually, but even now we use more ardent spirits than do the English, the French, or even the Russians, who, according to statistics, scarcely deserve the name of hard drinkers. It is probably not true, as claimed by some, that those people who consume the largest percentage of alcohol in either a fermented or a distilled form have proved most successful in the struggle for existence.

Again referring to special diets for excessive weight, etc., it should be an invariable rule with those experimenting in this direction to keep themselves under thorough and competent medical supervision. The whole system means, in comparison with normal living as usually carried on, semi-starvation as to food and drink, and exercise more or less active, with particular attention paid to the idiosyncrasies of the individual. A system that will help one may injure another. No breakfast, with little water as drink, and a great reduction in the carbohydrates used, and an excess of proteids and little fats, may do for one person and be of great injury to another if not properly modified to the condition of the individual. Again, as to exercise while undergoing a system of diet. This, as to its amount and kind, needs careful supervision by competent hands. The heart and other great organs may be vulnerable to excesses here.