62 EXPERIMENT STATION RECORD. [Vol. 43 



about 26 per cent of the total calories, pork normally about 16 per cent, dairy 

 products 15 per cent, and sugar 7 per cent. Then came corn, beef, the vege- 

 table oils, potatoes, poultry and eggs, other vegetables, and apples in decreasing 

 table oils potatoes poultry and eggs other vegetables and apples in decreasing 

 much as 1 per cent of the total calories. The changes in 1917-18 showed the 

 result of the efforts of the U. S. Food Administration in that the articles on 

 which conservation was most strongly urged (wheat, beef, mutton, pork, and 

 sugar) showed a decidedly lower consumption and rye, other cereals, nuts, 

 and vegetables an Increased consumption. 



The average per capita per diem consumption as calculated from tlie total 

 population, and the age-intake values was for the whole period as follows: 

 Protein 120, fat 169, and carbohydrate 541 gni. with a total energj- value of 

 4,288 calories. It is pointed out that this represents the gross consumption, 

 and that by applying the estimated percentage deductions for edible wastage, 

 the corresponding figures would be 114, 127, 433, and 3,424, respectively. These 

 figures are in general agreement with the results of a number of American 

 dietary studies which have been compiled for purposes of comparison, the 

 corresponding figures being 95, 118, 447, and 3,185, respectively. 



In conclusion it is emphasized that in calculating the food requirements of 

 a nation " a considerable excess over any agreed-upon minimum physiological 

 requirements must always be allowed, because tliere will inevitably be, in fact, 

 a margin between actual gross consumption and net physiological ingestion or 

 utilization." The gradually rising prices during the period since 1911 are 

 thought to have brought about a slight narrowing of the margin between gross 

 and net consumption. 



As an appendix, a table is given indicating the consumption of nutrients in 

 the form of feeds and fodder by domestic animals as determined by the same 

 statistical plan followed in the case of human foods. 



The modern science of food values, H. P. Armsby {Yale Rew, 9 (1920), No. 

 2, pp. SSOSIfS). — In this article the author takes stock of the contribution of 

 modern science to our knowledge of food values and considers the funda- 

 mental importance of an adequate food supply and of rational measures of 

 insuring it. 



The days when food was so abundant in the United States that it could be 

 used almost as one pleased, he points out, are gone never to return. " Even 

 though we may hope to make an end of war we can not hope to escape from 

 the world's continually growing demand for food. The density of population 

 that can be supported is practically limited by the amount of solar energy 

 which the farmer can recover in food products and the efficiency with which 

 these products can be utilized as fuel for the human body. Any rational effort 

 to extend this limit must include as its prime requirements not only a sys- 

 tematic development of agricultural production, such as is now being effected 

 by national and State agencies, but also an equally systematic attention to the 

 conservation and most efficient utilization of the products of the farm. The 

 two are but different aspects of the one great problem of national nutrition. 

 Without reflecting upon any existing agencies, surely it is high time that, 

 along with military, naval, transportation, and manufacturing programs, this 

 fundamental problem vital to our national existence and welfare, should be 

 taken up in its entirety by some national agency charged with the investiga- 

 tion of the scientific and economic aspects of food supply and utilization, and 

 with the diffusion of the knowledge, thus gained, among the people." 



Further studies of qualitatively insufficient foods, A. Auer (Biochem. 

 Ztschr., 93 (1919), No. 1-2, pp. 1-15, figs. £).— This is a continuation of the 

 studies of Oseki previously noted (E. S. R., 32, p. 561). White mice were fed 



