EDITORIAL. 105 



Some of those men are now among" the most active and intiuential 

 leaders in this national movement. 



Parallel with his studies in agricultural chemistry, Professor 

 Atwater began at an early day to carry on investigations in physio- 

 logical chemistry, with special reference to the problems of human 

 nutrition. These studies soon brought him into official relations with 

 national and State organizations having funds wdiich could be used 

 to promote research in these lines. Between 1879 and 1883 he made 

 a series of analyses of fish for the U. S. Fish Commission and of the 

 flesh of domestic animals for the Smithsonian Institution. Studies 

 of the dietaries of people in Massachusetts and Canada were also 

 made for the Massachusetts Bureau of Statistics and Labor and 

 published in 1886. 



Similar work was instituted in connection with the Storrs Experi- 

 ment Station, and in 1893 wuth the aid of Hon. J. Sterling Morton, 

 then Secretary of Agriculture, an appropriation Avas obtained from 

 Congress for investigations in human nutrition in cooperation with 

 the experiment stations. Headquarters for this enterprise were 

 established at jSIiddletown, Conn., and Professor Atwater was made 

 its official chief. This work was broadly planned and steadily devel- 

 oped in succeeding years, until it became the most comprehensive 

 investigation on this subject ever undertaken. The cooperation of 

 universities, colleges, and schools, experiment stations, public institu- 

 tions, and private organizations of various kinds was secured in dif- 

 ferent parts of the country. Hundreds of dietary studies of people 

 of dift'erent occupations were made and the results of similar studies 

 ihroughout the world were collated. Numerous digestion experiments 

 with men were carried on and special studies made of the nutritive 

 value of different cereals, meats, vegetables, fruits, and nuts, the 

 effects of cooking and other forms of preparation on nutritive value, 

 and other important food problems. Special efforts were made to 

 improve methods and apparatus for such work. 



P'rom a scientific point of view, the most important result of these 

 investigations was the development and use by Professor Atwater 

 and his associates of special forms of bomb and respiration calorime- 

 ters. An instrument Avas thus provided foi- studying the effect of 

 food in the dcA^elopment of energy. Avhit-h surpasses all apparatus of 

 the kind in range and accuracy of operation. As a direct outcome 

 of this Avork, a respiration calorimeter for use Avith the larger domestic 

 animals lias been constructed by Doctor Armsby at State College, Pa. 

 The studies in hunuin nutrition already made Avith the AtAvater-Tlosa- 

 Benedict calorimeter have been very important and pronuse to be 

 still nu)re so. Direct evidence has l)('en ol)tained that the laAV of the 

 conservation of energy holds good in tlie utili^calion of food in the 

 human l)ody, as well as important data regarding (lie actual nutritive 



