http://journeytoforever.org/farm_library/Famish/famworld3b.html

§ 45 -- Calories and "Science"
Men are still alive who recall the days when horseshoes, nailed over the
barn door, were looked upon as a cure-all for disease and a preventive of
evils. Where the horseshoe hung lightning would not strike; the horse would
not get glanders. A few people still believe in the efficacy of horseshoes.

Other men recall the days when buckeyes were the greatest friends of the
human race. There was an old adage that ran like this: "Carry a buckeye in
your hip pocket and you will escape rheumatism, or if you get it the buckeye
will cure you." A few people still cling to the buckeye superstition, but
scientific men laugh derisively at the absurd faith of their humbler
brothers in horseshoes and buckeyes.

These scientific men, who so clearly see the mote of superstition in the eye
of the great unwashed, do not see the beam in their own aristocratic orbs.

They are now giving lectures on "calories." They write about "calories." The
Government publishes bulletins on "calories." Hospitals and sanitaria, that
ought to know better, compose "scientific" diet lists for the guidance of
invalid and convalescent and in all these lists the "calorie" assumes an
importance that horseshoe or buckeye never enjoyed.

Professional nurses are talking about the "calorie" theory and some of them
collect fees for their familiarity with it.

Even restaurants have fallen under the spell and are imitating the
scientific leaders of thought who look down from lofty pinnacles of wisdom
and smile indulgently as they witness the spread of the silliest fetish that
ever cursed the medical world.