which should be held on to with iron determination it is the prohibition to export foodstuffs issued immediately after the beginning of the war' (p. 83).
Many of the measures advocated in this work have been put in force, such as the prohibition of sugar export, the slaughter of pigs, the employment of prisoners in cultivating the ground, and many suggestions as to foods and their preparation. The reduction in the stock of pigs has been adversely criticized, but it seems to have been perfectly sound advice under the circumstances; for 'the pig is man's greatest competitor in food'. It is amusing to hear a German thus say for himself what has often been said for him in slightly different words. But, seriously, it is impossible to recognize any mistake in the policy when 'with the milk, grain, and potatoes which a pig devours we could feed twice as many people as with the resulting pork' (p. 86).
The most essential part of Eltzbacher's work is the attempt to show how the necessary food-supply of Germany's 68,000,000 can be met without imports. Food is considered under its two great divisions:
(1) Body-builders and repairers.—Protein, chiefly contained in meat, eggs, milk, peas, beans, kernels, grain, &c.
(2) Energy-producers,[1] yielding heat and work.—Fats and oils (hydrocarbons), with sugar and starch (carbohydrates).
The body, in fact, resembles a locomotive, which requires metal for repair and fuel to enable it to move. The body is like the engine in that its fuel is useless for repair: it is unlike in that it can employ its metal as
- ↑ The value of energy-yielding foods is expressed in calories, one calorie being the heat required to raise 1 kilogramme of water from 0° to 1° centigrade.
