2. SO 



NATURE 



[August 24, 191 1 



optimism which leads to the relaxation of sustained 

 elfort in dealing with a plague epizootic is most 

 dangerous. 



The one important fact is that the plague-infection 

 has gained a lodgment in this country after an 

 absence of nearly 250 years, and the only safe course 

 to be pursued is to prevent the rat-infection from 

 becoming endemic. Nothing is to be gathered from 

 the fact that only a few human cases have occurred 

 in four years in a sparsely populated locality. This 

 is the ordinary behaviour of plague in new localities 

 in this pandemic. Because no human epidemic 

 happens quickly the impression is produced that the 

 country is immune. In London in the seventeenth 

 century there were in seventy years only four severe 

 epidemics, and for fifteen years before the great 

 plague of London in 1665 there was only on an 

 average fourteen plague deaths per year in the metro- 

 polis. It is well not to place too much reliance on 

 the different conditions existing in the seventeenth 

 centurv and now. In the former period the general 

 sanitarv conditions were undoubtedly much worse than 

 they are at present, but we have the very poor, and 

 more of them, still with us in our slums, and they 

 still live in an overcrowded state, with none too much 

 light or sanitation in their houses. 



W. J. Simpson. 



THE NUTRITIVE VALUE OF BREAD. 1 



DR. HAMILL has presented an admirable report, 

 free in every way from prejudice, which will 

 long serve as an authoritative statement on the some- 

 what vexed question of the nutritive value of bread. 

 The account summarises the scientific and technical 

 information at present available, and clearly indicates 

 the complexity of the problem. Previous writers on 

 this subject, when not biassed by commercial considera- 

 tions, have as a rule dealt with the question from a 

 restricted point of view, but this report in no way 

 suffers in this respect. 



The first section deals with the classes of wheat 

 flour, and Dr. Hamill is careful to define the technical 

 terms used, which are usually grossly misused by 

 popular writers on the subject. The contention that 

 nutritive flour cannot be made in roller mills is once 

 for all disposed of, and the advocates of the stone 

 mill are reminded that the hard foreign wheats with 

 brittle skins, such as form the great bulk of the wheat 

 grown in western America, cannot be satisfactorily 

 milled between stones. A very much greater degree 

 of separation can be obtained in the more complicated 

 process of roller milling, and there is no reason for a 

 return to stone mills even if this were possible 

 economically. With regard to colour, patent grade 

 flours, which are the whitest, have better baking 

 qualities than households, and therefore command a 

 higher price — the report, however, overlooks the fact 

 thai the colour of bread depends more on the 

 "strength" of the flour used than on its colour in 

 the dry state. 



The second section, which is supplemented by much 

 valuable tabular matter, summarises all that is known 

 as lo the nutritive value deduced from chemical 

 analysis of various milling products and bread made 

 from them. Much of the experimental work quoted 

 has been done by the United States Department of 

 Agriculture. Ii is to he hoped that now that this 

 question has received so much notice in this country, 

 the Local Governmenl Board will itself initiate experi- 

 il work on some of the lines indicated by Dr. 



' Dr. J. M. HamilrsReporl 10 the Local Governmenl Board on the Nutri 

 live Value ol Bread made from Different Varieties of Wheal Flour. Pp. 53. 

 (Published by H.M. Stationery off,,-.-.) [Cd. 5831.] P 



NO. 2182, VOL. 87] 



Hamill; indeed, the report contains analyses oi various 

 milling products made by Dr. Monier-Williams in the 

 Local Government Board laboratories. Valuable as 

 these are, it is now necessary to go somewhat deeper 

 into the matter than the simple determination of ele- 

 mental composition. 



In a valuable section headed physiological considera- 

 tions, it is shown that many of the opinions so confi- 

 dently expressed in public by such bodies as ih, 

 Bread Reform League are certainly untenable, whilst 

 upon other points our knowledge is still too uncertain 

 to enable a definite statement to be made. Highlj 

 erroneous is the notion that high-grade white patent 

 flour is practically devoid of nitrogenous constituents — 

 actually the very opposite is the case, and, other things 

 being equal, a diet which consists wholly of bread 

 would possess greater advantages in this respect when 

 made from strong wheats. The degree to which bread 

 is acted upon by the digestive juices, and the extent 

 to which the products of digestion are absorbed and 

 assimilated, are problems requiring further investi- 

 gation, and although much has already been done 

 this only serves to indicate the complexity of the sub- 

 ject and to show how many factors must be taken 

 into account. The evidence available is given in full 

 in the report. 



Much has been written about the digestibility of 

 bran. Results are quoted which indicate thai the 

 presence of branny particles, even when very finely 

 divided, affects the digestibility of bread. It was 

 found by Goodfellow, for example, that when milk is 

 taken with wholemeal bread 3 per cent, less milk was 

 digested than when the milk was taken alone. It is 

 probable for this reason that the large class of whole- 

 meal breads, sold to the public at an enhanced price, 

 are inferior to white bread excepting when the) are 

 taken for definite medicinal reasons. 



Regarding the whole question from a common-sens, 

 point of view, it is a fact that the differences in 

 nutritive value between various grades of flour made 

 from the same wheat are insignificant when com- 

 pared with the differences between flours made from 

 different wheats. So long as Britain derives its flour 

 from all over the world this last question is the para- 

 mount one. The big millers are so skilful in blending 

 wheals that the flour supply of the large towns is 

 practically uniform in quality throughout the year. 



The questions of germ and mineral requirements are 

 fully discussed, and it is admitted that the knowledgi 

 of the latter point is still very imperfect. Here, how- 

 ever, Dr. Hamill ventures to draw a conclusion which 

 will be disputed by many, namely, that to ensun as 

 large a supply of minerals as possible it is advisable 

 to substitute very finely ground entire wheat bread for 

 a portion of the white bread in the diet of growing 

 children. 



He qualifies this subsequently by admitting that 

 when bread is supplemented by other foods, such as 

 are present in an ordinary mixed diet, the advantage 

 which one kind of bread may possess over another be- 

 comes negligible. Many children whose food consists 

 largely of bread do not get enough of it, and are under- 

 fed in respect of all the essential nutritive substances. 

 It is better in such cases to increase the amount of 

 bread taken rather than to substitute another form of 

 bread, and s'.ill heller to supplement the bread by other 

 materials such as milk, which contains a substantial 

 quantity of the nutritive materials lacking in bread. 

 The effecl of bread on the teeth is fully discussed: 

 the differences between different kinds of bread in this 

 respecl would appear to be negligible. This again i- 

 a direct contradiction of recenl assertions. 



The preparation and properties of the so-called 

 standard Hour and bread are described at some length, 



