350 KANSAS ACADEMY OF SCIENCE. 



THE NEED OF INVESTIGATIONS IN HUMAN NUTRITION, 



J. T. WiLLAED, Kansas Agricultural College, Manhattan. 

 Read before the Academy, at Topeka, December 31, 1904. 



TpOR the last seven years it has been the duty of the writer to de- 

 -^ liver a course of lectures to junior students on the chemistry of 

 food and nutrition. In respect to dietary standards, these words were 

 used seven years ago: "We are safe in saying that while many good 

 dietaries are in use, we still lack exact knowledge as to food t'eqiiire- 

 ments of men and women in the several occupations of life. We 

 have indeed a considerable mass of information in regard to dietaries 

 in actual use which are giving good or bad results, as the case may 

 be ; but these are all the results of local conditions as modified by the 

 tastes of the people or the notions of those who are feeding them. 

 Most of the standard dietaries are based on observations of food ac- 

 tually consumed by certain people or classes of people, rather than on 

 their requirements for good work." These words have remained true 

 almost up to the present, if, indeed, they are not still so. In the 

 meantime large amounts of work have been given to the study of 

 food actually consumed by various groups of people, but there has 

 been a singular lack of appreciation of the necessity for the study of 

 the actual bodily needs in respect to food. Considerations of the 

 pocketbook have long since determined the execution of experiments 

 of this kind bearing upon the nutrition of domestic animals, but when 

 man comes to consider his own case he seems to prefer to be guided 

 by the results of following appetite, except as its sway has been lim- 

 ited by conditions. Until recently almost no results have been avail- 

 able bearing directly on the question of bodily needs. Even though 

 the physiological fact had been amply demonstrated nearly forty 

 years ago that the metabolism of proteid tissue is not the necessary 

 or even the chief source of muscular energy, we still find, universally 

 prevalent, the view that severe muscular exertion requires large quan- 

 tities of meat — so firmly fixed have previously conceived notions be- 

 come. 



I had hoped to present the results of experiments looking to a 

 greater knowledge in respect to food requirements at this meeting, 

 but have not been able to complete the analyses. Since undertaking 

 this, knowledge of experiments by Russell H. Chittenden, director of 

 the Sheffield Scientific School, of Yale University, has come to me ; also 

 certain other earlier observations by Mr. Horace Fletcher. These ob- 

 servations are of the deepest interest and of prime economic impor- 



