The reader may inquire why it is that all other branches of science have
advanced so rapidly, and the science of human nutrition has just begun.
The reasons are:
1 Our ancestors, for many thousand years, were taught that
dis-ease was a visitation of Divine Providence, therefore to combat
it was to tempt the Almighty.
2 Doctors of medicine who have been custodians of the people's
health for many centuries have seldom been food scientists. Most of
them attempt to combat disease with drugs.
Now we are beginning to learn the truth about the origin of disease and
in considering the body as a human engine, to take into consideration
the all-important question of fuel.
[Sidenote: Tendency of the modern physician toward food science]
That the most learned physicians are drifting more and more toward
scientific feeding and natural remedies is a matter of common knowledge.
This splendid army of laborers in the great field of human suffering is
made up largely of what is termed the _Modern Doctor_--the man who is
brave enough to think and to act according to his better judgment.
Just to the extent that we understand the origin of drugs, and the
drugging system of treating dis-ease, we turn instinctively _from them_,
and instinctively _toward_ food, for in drugs we find an ancient system
of guesswork, while in food we find fundamental principles and primary
causes. The majority of causes are removed when the diet is made to fit
our physical condition and environment, and we then become normal by
the process of animal evolution, Nature merely bestowing upon us our
birthright because we have obeyed her laws.
3 The true science of human nutrition can be evolved only from
an accurate knowledge of both food chemistry and of physiological
chemistry.
[Sidenote: Why food chemistry and physiological chemistry have not been
united]
The science of physiological chemistry has been known and taught for
more than one hundred years, while the science of food chemistry is
of recent origin. These two branches have been kept separate because
they grew up at different periods of time. United they constitute the
greatest science known to mankind, because they affect his health, his
happiness, his life, and above all they measure the period of time he
will live.
Physiological chemistry tells what the body is and its needs--food
chemistry tells how to supply these needs. Recognizing these facts, I
have merely united these hitherto unapplied branches of science, and
have made of the union the science of Applied Food Chemistry, which
makes practical that which has heretofore been confined mainly to
theory.