A STUDY OF DIETARIES AT LAWRENCE, KANSAS. 



By E. H. S. Bailey, University of Kansas. 

 Read before tlie Academy, at Topeka, January 1, 1903. 



OCIENTIFIC investigation of the present day is pointing more 

 ^ strongly to the fact that without attention to the quality and 

 quantity of the food consumed man can never be at his best morally, 

 intellectually, or physically. Food is taken into the body to nourish 

 it and enable it to perform properly its functions, but the appetite 

 incites us to take food frequently which, both in kind and amount, is 

 injurious. 



As wfe are discussing more especially food substances, and their 

 value in sustaining the machine which we call the human body, it is 

 proper to notice the economic conditions that govern our choice. 

 Just as the recent coal strike has led to the discovery and develop- 

 ment of new fuels to take the place of anthracite, so the scarcity of 

 food, from its high price or, what amounts to the same thing, a de- 

 crease in wages at any time, leads to the substitution of new food 

 supplies and to the more economical use of those which we have. 



The food materials contain water, proteids like the albumen of meat 

 and eggs, carbohydrates like those in starch and sugar, fat from both 

 the vegetable and animal kingdoms, and mineral salts. If the animal 

 is allowed to eat the vegetable food, and we eat the flesh of the animal, 

 we get the proteids in a concentrated form. In the vegetable king- 

 dom, the leguminous plants, such as beans and peas, furnish the lar- 

 gest relative quantity of protein. ^ 



Looking over the broad field of food supply, we notice : First, foods 

 are cheaper or dearer as they are in or out of season, but the season 

 has been much extended by convenient and cheap transportation, and 

 since canned fruits and vegetables have been introduced many vege- 

 table foods are to be obtained throughout the year at reasonable prices. 

 Second, there is very little relation between the cost of foods and their 

 nutritive value. Beans are more nutritious than plum pudding, but 

 they cost less. Third, a cheap food is not necessarily a poor food, or 

 an expensive food a good food. Fourth, an expensive food can be 

 spoiled for the i3alate and rendered unwholesome by poor cooking, and 

 a cheap food can be made at least palatable and wholesome by skilful 

 cooking. 



Without going into details, it should be noted that foods like the 

 protein compounds are mostly used to form the material of the body 

 —4 ( 49 ) 



