Eothrock.] ^'-'-J [May C, 



He had, however, from time to time contributed brief papers to the scien- 

 tific peiiodicals of the period. Tliese are marked by clearness of state- 

 ment, and the conclusions are so distinctly put that the busy worker could 

 obtain the desired facts at a glance. For instance, he concludes his paper 

 on the " Ffeces of Starch-Fed Infants " thus: "First, that many infants 

 of under three months can digest starchy foods. Second, that the individual 

 variations in this regard are so numerous that no broad and general state- 

 ment can be made as to the period at which infants begin to digest starches ; 

 and, Third, that the physician can be absolutely certain that a farinaceous 

 ingredient in the diet of a young infant is beneficial, only by an examina- 

 tion of the dejecta under such diet. (See Transactions of College of Phy- 

 sicians of Philadelphia, 3d Series, Vol. vi, p. 443.) 



In 1883, Dr. Randolph and Mr. A. E. Roussel contributed to the Phila- 

 delphia Medical Times a paper of great practical value, wherein it is 

 proven that in about eighty per cent of the cases treated by inunction of cod- 

 liver oil a notable increase of the fatty matter passed per anum was 

 observed. This well-grounded observation is one to which the hard- 

 prepsed physician may frequently turn for support, in behalf of the con- 

 clusion that his oft-repeated inunctions have done good when the stom- 

 achs of his patients utterly refused to tolerate oleaginous substances, either 

 as medicine or as food. It is the more important because of the scant use 

 made of inunction by the medical practitioner. 



In the Proceedings of the Philadelphia Academy of Natural Sciences, 

 1883, he published "A Study of the Distribution of Gluten within the 

 "Wlieat Grains." This may be regarded as preliminary to the more ex- 

 tended paper, entitled "AStudy of the Nutritive Value of Branny Foods." 

 In the preparation of this, Mr. A. E. Roussel was associated with him. The 

 conclusions reached are too long to be stated in full here. We may, how- 

 ever, as indicating the character of the paper, quote his fourth and fifth 

 deductions : ' ' That in an ordinary mixed diet the retention of bran in flour 

 is a false economy, as its presence so quickens peristaltic action as to pre- 

 vent the complete digestion and absorption not only of the proteids present 

 in the branny food, but also of other food-stuff's ingested at the same time ;" 

 and, "That inasmuch as in the bran of wheat as ordinarily roughly 

 removed there is adherent a noteworthy amount of the true gluten of the 

 endosperm, any process which in the production of wheaten flour should 

 remove simply the three cortical protective laj'ers of the grain would yield 

 a flour at once cheaper and more nutritious than that ordinarily used." 



While it may be truly said that Dr. Randolph was by nature an investi- 

 gator, yet his career as a popularizer of scientific knowledge gave almost 

 equal promise. It is clear, however, that his choice of life work would 

 have led him into the laboratory rather than into the field. The former 

 gave time for thought and matured conclusions, whereas the latter often 

 implied more hasty decision. 



He was remarkable for his ingenuity in devising instrumental aids to 

 his problems in science. In this it is not saying too much to assert that 



