198 DEPARTMENTAL REPORTS. 



ing many of these materials, and it is believed the report is a useful 

 eontril)ution to the knowledge of the food of mankind. 



Experiments on the ^Metabolism of Matter and Energy in the Human 

 Body (Bulletin No. 60, pp. 112), by W. O. Atwater, F. G. Benedict, 

 and others, contains a report of exi^erimental tests of the Atwater- 

 Rosa respiration calorimeter and a detailed account of six experi- 

 ments on the metabolism of matter and energy in the human body. 

 These experiments form a part of a series which are in progress at 

 Wesleyan Uniyersitj^ Middletown, Conn., the ultimate object of 

 which is to studj^ the fundamental laws of nutrition. The exjieri- 

 mental data reported show that the apparatus and method haye now 

 reached a degree of perfection which encourages the hope that they 

 will yield results of tlie highest yalue when applied to the study of 

 such questions as the functions of the different classes of nutrients, 

 the demands of the body under different conditions, etc. 



Dietary Studies of Negroes in Eastern Virginia in 1897 and 1898 

 (Bulletin No. 71, pp. 45), contains accounts of 12 dietary studies 

 conducted in 1897 under the direction of H. B. Frissell, principal of 

 the Hampton Normal and Agricultural Institute, with the assistance 

 of W. F. Schultz, in families liying in the region bordering the Dis- 

 mal Swamp, where the sijle of liying is yery primitive and the income 

 usually quite limited; and of 7 dietary studies conducted in 1898 

 by Miss Isabel Bevier, professor of chemistry of Lake Erie College, 

 in families living in the neighborhood of Hampton, Va., some of whom 

 had been under the influence of the Hampton Institute and were 

 quite well to do, while others had received no such training and were 

 believed to be fairly representative of negroes of very limited means 

 and little or no education. These studies constitute a part of a series 

 of similar investigations in charge of this Office, the object of which 

 is to discover ways and means bj* which the dietaries of people of 

 diif erent occupations may be improved and the available food supply 

 most economically used to maintain the body in good health and to 

 make it an efficient instrument for the iDcrformance of the various 

 kinds of physical and mental activity required by our complex 

 civilization. 



Dietary Studies of University Boat Crews (Bulletin No. 75, pp. 72), 

 by W. O. Atwater and A. P. Bryant, is an account of 7 dietary 

 studies made with Harvard and Yale boat crews in the spring of 1898, 

 during the month preceding the annual races of these crews at New 

 London. These studies were undertaken primarily to secure data 

 regarding the food requirements of man performing severe muscular 

 work. The regular course of diet and exercise jjursued by boat crews 

 in training, and the conditions under which men live at such times, 

 give a favorable opportuuit}' for obtaining relativel}" reliable data. 

 Few statistics of the dietaries of persons thus engaged are available 

 and for this reason the results of this investigation are of special 

 interest. 



Bread and Principles of Bread Making (Farmers' Bulletin No. 112, 

 pp. 38) summarizes the latest knowledge on this subject, as stated on 

 p. 182. 



Development of the Nutrition Investigations of the Department of 

 Agriculture (Yearbook of the Department of Agriculture, 1899, pp. 

 4():3_414)^l3yA. C. True andR. D. ]Milner, describes the origin, progress, 

 and iDresent status of these investigations. 



In addition to the above publications, the following were completed 

 and transmitted for publication during the year: Nutrition Invest!- 



