NUTRITION LABORATORY * 



Francis G. Benedict, Director. 



THE LABORATORY AND ITS EQUIPMENT. 



The past year has been the first in which active experimenting could be 

 carried out in the new laboratory. The building and its equipment have 

 proven admirably adapted for experimentation in the peculiar lines necessi- 

 tated by investigations into the transformations of material and energy in the 

 human body. The heating and ventilation of the building, the cooling appli- 

 ances for the calorimeter laboratory, and the general facility with which 

 experiments with the respiration calorimeters can be carried out all sub- 

 stantiate in the fullest degree the wisdom of establishing a special laboratory 

 for these investigations. The cost of maintenance and running expenses has 

 been such as to allow us to live within our allotment and yet accomplish more 

 in the way of equipment, experiment, and design than was originally planned. 



GRADING. 



The laboratory is located on a street as yet not accepted by the city and 

 hence is but poorly supplied with driveways. Through the courtesy of the 

 Harvard Medical School we were enabled to make arrangements with them 

 to use the driveway to their power-house and thence a short length of road 

 was constructed back of the building so as to allow expressmen to drive to 

 the rear door without difficulty. The grounds back of the building have 

 been graded and work has been done according to plans made by a landscape 

 architect to conform with the land adjacent to the power-house. It is hoped 

 that provisions for a road in front of the laboratory may soon be made. A 

 cinder footpath was placed from the door to the sidewalk on Vila Street and 

 thus entrance can be made both in front and rear without difficulty. At 

 present the street in front of the building is much in need of grading. Until 

 definite plans for roadways close to the institution are made, no steps towards 

 establishing a permanent grade may be taken to advantage. 



BUILDING EQUIPMENT. 



Believing that it was impracticable and distinctly undesirable to attempt 

 to specify all the material equipment of the laboratory in the original contract, 

 the building was so constructed that the laboratory fittings, tables, shelves, 

 desks, etc., could be introduced as desired and as necessity demanded. Con- 



*Situated at Boston, Massachusetts. Grant No. 546. $25,000 for investigations and 

 maintenance. (For previous reports on work in nutrition see Year Books Nos. 2, 3, 

 4, 5, 6, and 7.) 



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