preserve the body in a state of equilibrium. It was found that the 

 amount of dry matter contained in the food consumed averaged a 

 little less than 1 per cent of the weight of the body, the exact aver- 

 age for the whole experiment being 0.9 per cent. In other words, 

 each healthy young man consumes each day an amount of dry food 

 equivalent, approximately, to 1 per cent of the weight of his body. 

 In the case of a man weighing 150 pounds, therefore, the amount 

 of dry food consumed is about li pounds daily. Including the 

 moisture in the food and drink, the total quantity of food consumed 

 by each young man is 4.2 per cent of his weight. Thus the total 

 amount of food and drink consumed by an individual weighing 150 

 pounds is a little over 6 pounds daily. The diet was varied so as to 

 give a choice of meats and vegetables, with bread, butter, milk, coffe 

 and tea. The best qualities of foods were purchased 

 added preservative or coloring matter and in a perfect state of pres- 

 ervation. The cooking was done in the Department of Agriculture, 

 and every precaution was used to have the food and all the appurte- 

 nances of the table perfectly sanitary. While the kitchen and dining 

 room were in the basement and perhaps might not be considered 

 especially attractive, scrupulous neatness was observed. 



ADMINISTRATION OF THE/ PRESERVATIVE. 



The periods of observation were divided into groups of five days 

 each, two periods being^used^for the preliminary or fore period, 

 namely, ten days; six periods, or thirty days, for the administration 

 of the preservative; and two periods, or ten days, for the after period. 

 The salicylic acid was given in small and increasing doses, beginning 

 with 0.2 gram, namely, 3 grains, and gradually increasing the dose 

 to 2 grams, or 30 grains. The administration of the preservative 

 extended in this case from October 29, 1903, to November 27, 1903, 

 a period of thirty days. The preservative was administered in the 

 two forms considered to be most convenient and most commonly 

 used by physicians, namely, in tablets and in capsules. Objections 

 have been urged against this manner of administering a preservative 

 and it has even been stated in some of the criticisms of the borax 

 experiment that the use of this method is sufficient ground for the 

 rejection of all the data collected relative to the injurious effects of 

 the preservative upon the metabolic processes. It is hardly neces- 

 sary to call attention to the groundlessness of such an objection. In 

 all medical and pharmacological work the materials which are used 

 for study are given either in the food in the form of tablets or cap- 

 sules, or injected directly into the blood. If, therefore, the data 

 which have been collected in these experiments are to be rejected 

 by reason of the method of administration, the whole mass of data 

 based upon medical and pharmacological experimental work is to be 



