Eggs are amongst the most important articles of a mixed diet. An egg is an undeveloped chick, and therefore its constituents are practically those which will build up the living body. The shell consists chiefly of carbonate of lime, the white is almost a pure solution of protein, the yolk, besides protein, contains a large proportion of fat and several highly important substances for building up the nervous system. Amongst them are two very important minerals - phosphorus and iron - both in organic combination. Seven and a half eggs will supply for one day all the iron which the human body requires. Yolk of egg, therefore, is an extremely useful food for anaemic persons.

An egg contains a good deal more nutriment than the same weight of meat, but in different proportions. Despite this, however, an egg is not a complete food, because it contains no carbohydrate material. For this reason eggs ought to be added to rice or other cereals, and in this way a pudding becomes a complete food; in the same way bread and butter eaten with eggs constitutes a complete food. When kept, eggs gradually lose a certain amount of their water, and become lighter. A fresh egg should sink at once in a solution of 2 ounces of salt to a pint of water, but the longer it has been kept, the nearer the surface it will be found. Eggs are easily digested, but it is a mistake to imagine that raw eggs are more easily digested than lightly boiled eggs. Two of the latter should leave the stomach in less than two hours. Fifteen to twenty eggs are equal in value to 2 lbs. of medium fat meat. A few methods of preparing eggs for dietetic purposes may be of some interest.

First: Cream Eggs. - Two eggs should be poached and placed on buttered toast. One ounce of butter melted in the stew-pan, a tablespoonful of cream, and a little pepper and salt. Make this mixture hot and pour it over the poached eggs.

Second: Egg and Spinach Toast. - One pound of well-washed spinach should be cooked in 2 ounces of butter in a double-pan cooker, passed through a fine sieve into a stew-pan, and four well-beaten eggs, with an ounce of grated cheese, added. The mixture should be stirred until it is thick, and then served on toast. Many other dishes of a similar character could be easily prepared, and for one who has to cater for himself they are extremely valuable. This is a favourite dish, highly nourishing and most valuable in anaemia, if the spinach does not disagree, but it is apt to be very irritating to the lower bowel.

Fleshless feeders will find a large selection of similar recipes in The Food Reformer's Companion (Miles).