fortitude or by necessity in time (perhaps weeks, perhaps years) to
acquire a tolerance, or even enjoyment, of food at first repulsive,
and therefore injurious. The difficulty in the matter is not that of
correctly determining what is physiologically sufficient for the human
animal, nor even what would be a healthy diet for a community when
once, after a transition period of distress and injury, habituated or
"attuned" to that diet. The difficulty is to arrive at a conclusion as
to what is really the suitable and reasonable diet for an
individual--yourself or one like yourself--having regard to the
lifelong habits of the individual, and the consequent nervous
reactions established in him or her in relation to the taste, quality,
and mode of presentation of food. Robust people, so long as they get
what suits their own uncultivated taste, are apt to make very light of
what they call "fancies" about food, and to overlook their real
importance.

Feeding on the part of civilised man is not the simple procedure which
it is with animals, although many animals are particular as to their
food and what is called "dainty." The necessity for civilised man of
cheerful company at his meal, and for the absence of mental anxiety,
is universally recognised, as well as the importance of an inviting
appeal to the appetite through the sense of smell and of sight, whilst
the injurious effect of the reverse conditions, which may lead to
nausea, and even vomiting, is admitted. Even the ceremonial features
of the dinner table, the change of clothes before sitting down to the
repast, the leisurely yet precise succession of approved and expected
dishes, accompanied by pleasant talk and light-hearted companionship,
are shown by strict scientific examination to be important aids to the
healthy digestion of food, which need not be large in quantity,
although it should be wisely presented.

These psychical conditions of healthy feeding are not trivial matters,
as we are too apt to suppose. They are part, and a very important
part, of the physiology of nutrition, and so deserving of scientific
inquiry and of practical attention. They have been made the subject of
careful experiment by a Russian physiologist, Pavloff. At a recent
meeting of the British Association this matter was brought under
discussion in the Physiological Section, and it was pointed out by the
author of a very interesting communication that the whole question as
to what is and