The Composition and Food Value of Bread. J 5 



the digestibility of bread have been done in this country. The 

 Cambridge School of Agriculture, thanks to a grant from the 

 Development Fund, has been able to acquire a fairly complete 

 equipment for the study of digestibility and other important 

 questions connected with the nutrition of animals. Its staff 

 have been asked to undertake the supervision of several of the 

 young men who are holding research scholarships provided by 

 the Development Fund. While the equipment was proceeding 

 of a special laboratory for the study of the digestibility of 

 home-grown fodders when fed to farm animals, it ocurred to 

 me that it would be excellent training for the team of research 

 scholars wdio are proposing to take up this work, to carry out 

 upon themselves a complete trial of the digestibility of two 

 kinds of bread. Accordingly I obtained from Mr. A. E. 

 Humphries, of Coxes Lock Mill, Weybridge, a sack of high 

 grade flour, of the quality known as patents, made from a 

 blend of home-grown and foreign wheats ; and Sir Oswald 

 Mosley was also kind enough to supply me with a sack of his 

 own make of stone-ground flour, of the quality known in 

 America as "entire," made entirely from home-grown wheat. 

 This flour was made by grinding the whole berry between 

 stones and subsequently sifting out about 20 per cent, of the 

 husk. After the experiment had been completed it was found 

 that the mill was not working normally. Sir Oswald Mosley 

 very kindly supplied two more samples of stone-grovmd flour. 

 From one of them about 8 per cent, only of husk had been 

 removed, from the other about 12 per cent. 



The experiment was undertaken by a team of four research 

 scholars, working under the joint supervision of Dr. F. G. 

 Hopkins and myself. During the first period of the experiment, 

 which lasted for seven days, the diet of each man was about 

 2 lb. bread made from the patents flour, supplemented by 2 oz. 

 of filtered butter fat, 2/3 oz. of sugar, and 1 pint of milk. The 

 men lived on this diet for a week without any great discomfort, 

 and carried out as the experiment proceeded all the weighings 

 of food and excreta, and a considerable number of the analyses. 

 The remainder of the analyses were completed in the succeed- 

 ing fortnight. The second period also lasted for seven days, 

 when the diet was as before, except that the bread was that 

 made from the first sample of flour supplied by Sir Oswald 

 Mosley. Again the restricted diet appeared to entail little in- 

 convenience, and the men were able to carry out all the necessary 

 weighings of food and excreta as the experiment proceeded, 

 and to complete all the analyses in about a fortnight. The last 

 two samples of flour presented by Sir Oswald Mosley w^ere 

 tested in a similar manner, except that the period of exjjei-inieiit 

 was in each case reduced to three days. 



