here they come much
below "M.D.'s" standard.

So, using Mr Voysey's phrases, I would urge laymen like myself to shun
that weak-kneed manikin, the low proteid diet, and unite with me in a
long strong pull to get him and others like him out of the rut in
which that sorry weakling holds him.

HY. BARTHOLOMEW.

II

The Editors were quite right in saying that the article under this
heading in the July issue would arouse discussion. My wife and I,
having discussed "M.D." and many others with the title, feel
constrained to put forth a warning against blind faith in anything
which the faculty have to say on dietetics.

There are of course brilliant exceptions, such as Dr Rabagliati, Dr
Knaggs, Dr Haig, the late Dr Keith and others, who give chapter and
verse for every statement made; but when we consider the excellent
work of laymen such as Albert Broadbent, Joseph Wallace, Horace
Fletcher, Alice Braithwaite, Eustace Miles, Hereward Carrington, Edgar
J. Saxon, Bernarr MacFadden, Arnold Eiloart, ordinary folks like
ourselves may be excused if we venture to give our experience as
against that of "qualified" men.

With your permission, then, we reply to "M.D.'s" five suggestions in
the order he gives them:--

1. Food qualities are _not_ of extreme importance.

2. Quantity tables may have been "settled" by physiologists to their
own satisfaction many years ago; but very good reasons have since been
given for altering, or even ignoring, them.

3. The particular number of grains of proteid to be consumed per day
is not of serious moment.

4. That departure from the quantity specified has not led to disaster
is proved by the fact that the human race still persists, in spite of
the very varying eating customs found in different nations. The great
majority being poor or ignorant, or both, know neither "tables" nor
the need for them.

5. There can be no reply to such a general statement as: "The nature
of this disaster may appear to be very various, and its real cause is
thus frequently overlooked."

In such matters an ounce of personal experience is worth a pound of
cut-and-dried theory. We--my wife and I--have been reared in an
atmosphere suspicious of doctors, both sets of grandparents having
relied rather on herbs, water treatment, goodness of heart and faith
in God; and their children have had too many evidences of medical
ignorance to accept any dogmas. We are anti-vaccinators, nearly
vegetarian, and, to come to