NUTRITION LABORATORY.* 



Francis G. Benedict, Director. 



Emphasis has frequently been laid in the Nutrition Laboratory 

 upon the importance of utilizing the cooperative efforts of the major 

 portion of the Laboratory staff in large research projects rather than 

 of laying stress upon minor though important problems to be carried 

 out independently by various workers. Thus far the Nutrition Labor- 

 atory has had valuable experience in the first method of attack in two 

 instances: (1) the cooperative study of the man who was completely 

 deprived of food for 31 days, in which not only the entire staff but 7 or 

 8 voluntary workers were occupied; (2) in the research outUned in the 

 alcohol program, to which substantial contributions are made each year. 



Since the annual report for 1917 was WTitten, the study there out- 

 lined on the influence of a prolonged restriction in diet upon human 

 vitality and efficiency has been carried out with the cooperation of 

 the entire staff. In this research every member of the staff spent the 

 larger part of his or her time from September 1917 to August 1918 upon 

 the accumulation of data, the computation and tabulation of results, 

 and the preparation of the report of the investigation for publication. 

 Entirely aside from the character and amount of work accomplished, 

 abundant proof has been obtained that such a project results in a 

 unification of all departments of the staff of the Laboratory, which can 

 be secured in no other way. 



Contrary to popular impression, a research laboratory is no more 

 exempt than are other fields of activity from the influence of the 

 national unrest that has permeated all departments of American Ufe, 

 particularly in the last year and a half. In the case of the Nutrition 

 Laboratory, however, this spirit of unrest has been accompanied by 

 an intensity of purpose which has resulted in a concentration of effort 

 on the part of every member of the staff never heretofore experienced, 

 and which has been clearly reflected in the history of the Laboratory 

 the past year. During this time, nearly all the activities of the Lab- 

 oratory were made secondary to the greater project of studying under- 

 nutrition. As shown in subsequent pages, it has not been necessary to 

 discontinue the work on some of our well-estabUshed researches, and 

 progress has been made in these to a certain extent, but the construc- 

 tion and testing of apparatus and the additions to the equipment have 

 been, almost invariably, incidental to the larger research on under- 

 nutrition. As a result, there has been a marked decrease in the direct 

 additions to equipment, in the number of minor researches carried out, 

 and in the reports of previous researches prepared for pubUcation. 



*Situated in Boston, Massachusetts. 



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