NUTRITION LABORATORY. 231 



Three samples of the popular ice-cream cone were found to yield from 82 

 to 132 calories. Of the chocolates studied, the plain chocolates had an aver- 

 age content for the 15 samples of 5.8 calories per gram, while both the 7 sam- 

 ples of milk chocolate and the 11 samples of nut chocolate showed an average 

 energy content per gram of 5.7 calories. The calories per gram for the 

 different varieties of crackers ranged from 4 to 5 calories. 



The article concludes with a discussion of the calories found in these extra 

 foods, em^phasizing particularly the fact that such calories should not be dis- 

 regarded in any consideration of the food intake. "500 calories, whether in 

 the form of steak or in the form of ice cream, are the same so far as the supply 

 of energy to the human organism is concerned. Indeed, 500 calories in the 

 form of ice cream may have an actually greater effect upon obesity than 500 

 calories in steak, since in the latter case we have the stimulating effect of the 

 protein to assist in burning up the calories and the fact that a portion of the 

 calories from protein is excreted unchanged." 



In consideration of the tendency of American legislation towards the pro- 

 hibition of the manufacture and sale of alcoholic Hquors and the important 

 part that the so-called temperance drink plays in satisfying the demand for 

 these extra foods, a note of warning is sounded against the curtailment of the 

 manufacture and sale of the products of the American soda fountain. 



(8) Effect of alcohol on psvcho-phvsiological functions. Walter R. Miles. Carnegie Inst. 

 Wash. Pub. No. 266 (1918). 



The unique feature of this study is the comparison of results from two 

 series of alcohol experiments, performed on the same subject and under identi- 

 cal laboratory conditions, but by different investigators. The importance of 

 such repetition series of experiments is urged as fundamental to the estab- 

 lishment of trustworthy results in this field. These data supplement and 

 amplify those reported by Dodge and Benedict on the "Psychological effects 

 of alcohol" (Carnegie Inst. Wash. Pub. No. 232, 1915), and form another 

 contribution on the psychological side under the tentative plan for alcohol 

 investigation at the Nutrition Laboratory. The dose was 30 c.c. of absolute 

 alcohol diluted with water and flavoring material to a total volume of 150 c.c. 

 The normal and alcohol data were equal in amount and control doses were 

 used on the normal days. The processes measured (which include a wide range) 

 and the apparatus and technique employed were the same as those used pre- 

 viously. The subject who served in the repetition experiments treated of in 

 this report was an adult male, 26 years old, the least promising of the normal 

 group employed by Dodge and Benedict, who had found him to show the 

 smallest general effect of the alcohol. The experiments were more intensive 

 than in the previous series, covering as they did 5 hours per day for 6 con- 

 secutive days. 



The general effect of the alcohol, as found in this second series, and shown 

 in the table herewith, is quite definitely one of neuro-muscular depression. 

 The variety of measurements provide 30 results which may be taken as indi- 

 cators of the alcohol effect. Of this total, 27, i. e., a ratio of 9 to 1, show 

 inferior fimctioning of processes after the dose. There are 16 cases in which 

 this change was less than 10 per cent and 11 cases in which it ranged from 

 10 to 37 per cent. There was some variation from day to day, but it appears 

 that no one day exercised a predominating influence on the general flndings. 



The two series of results are in practical agreement as to the direction of 

 the alcohol effect, and together they estabhsh the fact that this subject (No. 

 VI) was affected by alcohol in substantially the same way as five or six other 

 men, although he clearly demonstrated certain individual peculiarities. 



