INVESTIGATIONS IN HUMAN NUTRITION. 363 



problems which are being studied or which it is proposed to take up 

 shortly are the relative value as sources of nutrients and energy of 

 the various fats of animal and vegetable origin, the digestibility of va- 

 rious kinds of cheese and other dairy products, and the measurement 

 of the muscular work involved in performing various household tasks 

 and common body activities with a view to determining the energy 

 requirements of persons in various situations in life. Much atten- 

 tion is also being given to problems concerned with the economical 

 use of foods in the home. 



Among the most important features of these nutrition investiga- 

 tions of the Office of Experiment Stations is the opportunity afforded 

 for publishing the results of such work. Besides the technical bulle- 

 tins reporting new investigations, which are sold at low prices 

 (usually from 5 to 50 cents a bulletin), there is a series of popular 

 articles known as Farmers' Bulletins and intended for free distribu- 

 tion in the United States. These are popular but accurate sum- 

 maries of the results of technical inquiries along various lines. The 

 series also contains occasional numbers known as Experiment Station 

 Work and giving brief accounts of recent special investigations at the 

 various agricultural experiment stations, and thus keeping readers 

 in touch with the work actually in progress. The Experiment Sta- 

 tion Record, a monthly review of American and foreign publications 

 of interest to students of agriculture and other sciences, contains a 

 section devoted to human food and nutrition, in which the more 

 important current contributions to the subject are abstracted. 



Aside from the work which the agricultural experiment stations of 

 various States have done in cooperation with the nutrition investiga- 

 tions of the Office of Experiment Stations, a considerable number of 

 them have made independent and extensive contributions to the sub- 

 ject. Frequenth' a station works on problems of especial interest in 

 its locality; for example, the California Station has investigated the 

 food value of fruit and nuts, and the Minnesota Station the baking 

 qualities and digestibility of wheat products. Others, however, con- 

 duct experiments of general character, such as the studies of dietaries 

 and digestion experiments of the Connecticut Storrs Station, and the 

 studies of the structure of proteids of the Connecticut State Station, 

 and many cooperate with the States in the analysis of food materials 

 on sale in local markets and other work pertaining to state pure food 

 laws and their onforcomont. 



The state boards of health and similar offices occasionally investi- 

 gate questions bearing upon nutrition. The work of these state 

 institutions is usually published in special reports and is often rather 

 difficult of access, though more ijuportant features generally find their 

 way into the scientific journals. 



