The philosophy of eating. By Albert J. Bellows, M.D.

86

FOOD FOR THE NERVES.

that man also will have more or less activity of brain
or muscle in proportion to the elements he takes to feed
the brain and muscle.
In the preceding chapters we have seen that in the
germ of life is found phosphorus in proportion to the
future wants of the plant, and that the phosphorus is
supplied by, and taken from, the soil as it is required.
We have seen that quadrupeds and birds also depend
on phosphorus for their muscular activity, and this element is supplied by the seeds of plants, and by insects
and other animal food containing it.
We come now to consider that highest and most
important order of vitality which is peculiar to man,
and to see if the same element, although in a different
combination, and the same law for applying it, does
not pertain to that, as to the lower orders of vitality.
Of the solid matter of the brain, one twelfth, on an
average, is found by chemical analysis to be phosphorus, and the proportion of phosphorus is found to
be in proportion to mental development and mental
activity. A celebrated French chemist has made many
analyses of brains of children, idiots, and men of different degrees of intellect and mental activity, and the
uniform results were, that the brains of those whose
minds were most developed and active contained most
phosphorus. I will transcribe one of his tables.