THE STUDY OF HUMAN FOODS AND 

 PRACTICAL DIETETICS. 



By M. B. Jaffa. 



[This bulletin may be considered as the sequel and natural complement of Mr. Jaffa's 

 bulletin on "The Cattle Foods of California," No. 100, published in 1893. This latter 

 excited a great deal of interest and is still frequently called for by dairymen and others, 

 showing that it supplied needed Information. It would seem that a similar discussion 

 of hnman foods is at least as much called for at a time when not only hygienic questions 

 bat also that of economy are forcing themselves upon public notice. The present paper 

 was originally written aiid delivered as a lecture to the University Science A.ssociation, 

 exciting a good deal of discussion and interest at the time ; with so many subsequent 

 applications for the tables that the small edition prepared will soon be exhausted. While 

 not laying claim to originality save in the arrangement of tables convenient for reference 

 and use in the selection of dietaries, together with some data supplied by recent work 

 done at this Station in the analyses of fruits and nuts, it is thought that this compact 

 and easily intelligible presentation of the subject of human dietaries will commend 

 itself to public attention, and may help to rectif^ some of the incorrect practices and 

 views now so largely prevalent in respect to the principles upon which human nutrition 

 should be based under the varied conditions of modern life. — E. W. IT.] 



The study of human foods has only recently begun to receive the 

 attention that the importance of the subject demands. Up to fifty years 

 ago little was known either of the composition of the human body or of the 

 materials used as food. Since that time thorough scientific investigation 

 has been inaugurated and the progress has been rapid. As is usually the 

 case in all matters of scientific research, Germany took the lead, and the 

 writings of Liebig, first published in 1842, may be considered as pioneer 

 work. Some idea of the amount of chemical work done in Europe 

 alone may be gained by noting that the first edition of Dietrich and 

 Konig's compilation of analyses of feeding stuffs, published in 1874, is 

 a thin volume of 100 pages, while the second edition, seventeen years 

 later, is in two volumes containing 1,400 pages. 



We are indebted chiefly, for the results we have in this country, to 

 Professor Atwater, Director of the Storrs (Conn.) Agricultural Experi- 

 ment Station and Special Agent of the United States Department of 

 Agriculture; and he deserves the greatest praise for his persistent and 

 patient efforts in inaugurating this kind of research in the United 

 States. 



When his investigations were first undertaken, and for about tAvelve 

 years subsequently, most of the funds required were furnished by pri- 

 vate parties and sometimes by Professor Atwater himself. This is one 

 of the cases where the persistent efforts of private parties have proved 

 so conclusively to the Government the importance and necessity of the 

 work done, that it has feit in duty bound to financially help the cause. 

 Last year a considerable sum was appropriated to carry on the work 

 outlined by Professor Atwater, and he was appointed agent in charge, 

 It is to be sincerely hoped that our Station will soon be in a position to 

 help in the great movement which has secured such a firm footing in 

 some parts of the East. 



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