450 REPORT OF OFFICE OF EXPERIMENT STATIONS. 



time valuable information on food and nutrition has been accumu- 

 lated by physicians, by State boards of health, and by specialists in 

 physiology, hygiene, and dietetics. The United States Government, 

 through its various branches, has contributed much of value to the 

 science of nutrition. The War Department and the Navy Depart- 

 ment, in their efforts to secure the most satisfactory diet for the 

 soldiers and sailors, have collected a great deal of information and 

 conducted many investigations Avhich have to do with the subject of 

 dietetics, while the importance of their investigations dealing with the 

 hygiene of the subject can hardly be overestimated. In connection 

 with the United States census a large amount of data regarding 

 foods has been secured, the major portion of which has to do with 

 jDi'oduction and distribution, though many analyses have been re- 

 ported in census publications, as well as special studies of foods, 

 food industries, and related topics. Of very noteworthy importance 

 «re the studies of analytical methods, of the chemical composition of 

 foods, and of food adulteration conducted in the Bureau of Chem- 

 istry of the Department of Agriculture, the studies carried on in con- 

 nection with the Avork of the Dairy Division, the Division of Bio- 

 logical Chemistry, and the Meat-Inspection Service of the Bureau 

 of Animal Industry, as well as other bureaus of that department. 

 Though important contributions to the subject of nutrition were 

 made in all this work, yet it was not undertaken for the specific 

 purpose of extending this branch of research. 



ORIGIN OF THE NUTRITION WORK OF THE UNITED STATES 

 DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



A complete historical review of investigations on food and nutri- 

 tion of man in the United States would necessarily include an account 

 of the above inquiries and others not referred to here. The purpose 

 of the present article, however, is to give a brief resume of the sys- 

 tematic inquiry into the food and nutrition of man carried on under 

 the auspices of the Office of Experiment Stations of the Department 

 of Agriculture, and to indicate the progress and results of that 

 enterprise. 



This inquiry had its inception in a study of the chemical composi- 

 tion of food fishes and invertebrates undertaken by Prof. W. O. 

 Atwater in 1877, and continued until 1882, in the chemical labora- 

 tory of Wesleyan University, Middletown, Conn., at the instance of 

 Prof. S. F. Baird, Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution and 

 United States Commissioner of Fish and Fisheries. In connection 

 with this work similar investigations of other aninial and some xege- 

 table products were undertaken a little later — 1884 — on behalf of 

 the United States National Museum. About the same time — 1886 — 

 the first extended inquiry into the statistics of food consumption in 



