NUTRITION INVESTIGATIONS. 439 



tebrates undertaken by Prof. W, O. Atwater in 1877, and continued 

 until 1882, in the laboratory of Wesleyan University, at the instance 

 of Prof. S. F. Baird, secretary of the Smithsonian Institution and 

 United States Commissioner of Fish and Fisheries. In connection 

 with this work, similar investigations of other animal and some vege- 

 table products were undertaken a little later (1884) on behalf of the 

 United States National Museum. About the same time (1886) the first 

 extended inquiry regarding the statistics of food consumption in the 

 United States was undertaken by Hon. Carroll D. Wright, as chief 

 of the Massachusetts Bureau of Statistics of Labor, and the chemical 

 results were computed and reported by Professor Atwater. In 1890 

 the Storrs Experiment Station, under the direction of Professor 

 Atwater, in cooperation with Hon. Carroll D. Wright as United States 

 Commissioner of Labor, began a series of dietary studies which con- 

 tinued for several years. 



Nearly all the work of these inquiries was done at Wesleyan Uni- 

 versity, and, with the exception of those under the auspices of the 

 Massachusetts Bureau and United States Department of Labor and the 

 Storrs Experiment Station, the larger share of the expense was borne 

 by private individuals. Associated with Professor Atwater in the 

 inquiries were Messrs. C. D. Woods, now professor in the University 

 of Maine and director of the experiment station of that State; J. H. 

 Long, now professor in the Northwestern University Medical School; 

 E. B. Voorhees, now professor in Rutgers College and director of the 

 New Jersey experiment stations; J. M. Bartlett, now chemist of the 

 Maine Experiment Station; G. P. Merrill, now curator of the United 

 States National Museum and professor in Columbian University; W T . 

 H. Jordan, late of the Maine State University and Experiment Station 

 and now director of the New York State Experiment Station; E. B. 

 Rockwood, now professor and dean of the medical school of the Uni- 

 versity of Iowa; G. Gehring, since deceased, and the late Prof. H. B. 

 Gibson, of the University of Missouri, besides others who also rendered 

 most valuable service. Among those who supported the earlier 

 inquiries by private gifts were Messrs. F. B. Thurber, E. G. Black- 

 ford, and Mark Hoyt, of New York City; G. E. Roberts, of Boston, 

 and J. W. Alsop, H. G. Hubbard, A. R. Crittenden, E. K. Hubbard, 

 and I. E. Palmer, of Middletown, Conn. • It is interesting to note, in 

 these earlier studies, the same principle of the encouragement of 

 research b}^ public funds and official recognition, when it was aided by 

 private support, as is now being followed in the nutrition investi- 

 gations under the auspices of the Department of Agriculture. 



The results of these inquiries gradually came into notice. The bearing 

 of such research upon household, agricultural, and national economics 

 became evident, and as early as 1890 steps were taken to secure an 

 appropriation from Congress in order to enlarge their scope and useful- 



