WCP748

[1]¹

Broadstone, <Wimborne>²

Dec[embe]r. 1st. <1905> ³

My dear Fred

Yours of Nov^r. 11th. <reached> me the day after I had written to y<ou> with a copy of Mr. Schill's⁴letter.

I have really nothing to say about <the> business except to hope that this w<ill> find you at S[ant]a Catalina in the fu<ll> enjoyment of a luxuriant South Ame<rican> fauna as good as that of Pará or E<?>. I look forward with almost as much anxiety as if I were going there my<self.> You will please me best by giving a pretty full account of your captures as well as of the nature of the cou<ntry,> the walks ^paths & roads, the amount of <?> cutting, the people, native or for<eign,> Indians or Spaniards.

Your letter was almost <entirely? >devoted to a defence of the <?> qualities of the Trinid<adian?> <?> on which <?> [2] <?> over-nourished as to burst out <in> a tremendous crop of boils! This is, I am aware, the belief of some people, but I feel sure they ^{the boils} are not the result of over nourishment though they may be cause by too much <f>ood, and thus be an accompaniment of over-nourishment. But I feel sure myself that they are caused mainly <b>y unwholesome food of some kind — food that is not properly digested or <a>ssimilated however nourishing it may <b>e in essential constituents. I should <very> <m>uch like to know what this "too nourishing food" consists of. <Fr>om what I know of you I cannot <belie>ve that you ever "eat too much", <but that> it is the quality rather than the <quantity> of food you eat that <is> <of><impo?>rtance. Remember <?>uch[?] of [3] perspiration in England is al<?> over a pound weight a day, <and?> with hard work in a tropical c<limate?> 2 or 3 pounds may be lost in an hour! Huxley says this!^{5, 6} To make up for this, as <well> as the loss of tissue from the w<ork> done, is why you require more nourishing food, and even fat & other heat-producing foods i<n> the tropics than in a temperate climate, the continuous pespira<tion> carrying off an immense amount of heat.

As an item worth consideratio<n> <on> this subject of diet is the follo<wing> note in Huxley's Physology⁷ aft<er> <?> the constituents & nutritive va<lue> <of> various kinds of foods. He <says,> "It may be worth while to <point out> that mere chemical analysis <is, however, by itself> a very insufficient <guide as to the usefulness> [4]⁸ <and <nu>tritive value of an article of food. <A subs>tance to be nutritious must not only <cont>ain some or other of the above food-stuffs <(pro>teids, fats or carbo-hydrates) but contain <the>m in an available, that is a digestible form. <A p>iece of beef-steak is far more nourishing <than> a quantity of pease pudding containing <even> a larger proportion of proteid material, <becaus>e the former is far more digestible <than> the latter; and a piece of dry cheese, thou<gh> of high nutritive value as judged <by> mere chemical analysis, <will> not satisfy the more subtle criticism of the stomach."⁹

<As> soon as you let me know to whose <address> I am to send parcels to you I will <sen>d the 1st. volume of "My Life.",¹⁰ & the <2nd.?> <w>hen I hear the former has reached <you> <safe>ly. The criticisms have been very <?> <on the?> whole, combining butter and <?> <in equal?> proportions, with now and then <bi>tter[?] aloes!

<Yours very truly> | <Alfred R. Wa>llace [signature]