ON SCIENCE IN SCHOOL CERTIFICATE EXAMINATIONS. 501) 



VII. Suggestions for a Course of Practical Food Studies. 



By Prof. Henry E. Aemstrono, F.R.S. 

 (The following suggestions for a series of practical food studies are very 

 similar in form and purpose to those given in the schemes accepted by the 

 Association in 1889 and 1890. This scheme was offered to the Association, pre- 

 cisely in the form in which it is now printed, at the Norwich meeting in 1907 ; 

 the Committee of Section L suggested that it should be published in full but 

 this recommendation was not adopted by the Committee of Recommendations. 

 My object was to aid teachers, especially in girls' schools, who desired to 

 develop a logical, comprehensive laboratory course of instruction b^ised upon 

 food materials. At the time I stated that the scheme was not half complete : it 

 needs elaboration, especially on the physical, botanical and biological sides ; had the 

 slightest encouragement been given, I should have developed it. Its present belated 

 appearance may perhaps serve to stimulate a few teachers to take up a line of work 

 which is certainly of jjromise, if only it be pursued in a proper scientific sj)irit. My 

 desire has been to see a scheme of instruction gradually introduced into girls' education 

 which will make them scientific observers and thinkers in relation to all home matters : 

 if this position were gained, they would stand on an intellectual plane far higher than 

 that they now occupy.) 



Study of Food. 



At the outset, children might be asked what they know about food — what people 

 take as food — to draw up a list of foods, arranging the different kinds together 

 according as they are vegetable, animal, &c. — to think what infants live on (milk 

 and air) ; what is the simplest food we can just live on when we have teeth (bread 

 and water and air) ; that if butter or dripping (fat) be added to bread, it becomes 

 improved both to taste and as food ; and that bread and butter together with milk 

 and water and air are a thoroughly satisfjing food. 



After much talking about such matters, they should be led to write simple 

 accounts of what they know or can find out by observation and inquiry about 

 foods under heads similar to the above. It would be well to let them find out 

 what animals generally live on, so that they may understand the distinction 

 between carnivorous and herbivorous animals. 



As it is possible to live on bread, air and water, bread may be studied 

 thoroughly as a typical solid food. The answer to the question ' What is it made 

 from ? ' ' Flour or wheat ' — would lead to the further question ' What is flour ? ' 

 Flour should then be made by each child — practically, as it is still made by 

 savage races and as it was made before flour mills were invented — by pounding 

 wheat in a mortar or crushing it with a rolling pin. The exercise should be 

 carried out seriously and with scrupulous care, each child being made to weigh 

 out a certain quantity of wheat, then to powder or crush it and to separate the 

 flour from the bran by sieving through book muslin; the flour and bran should 

 tnen be weighed separately and the percentage of each calculated and the loss. 

 A record in writing of this work should be kept by each child. 



In the course of the lessons, the production of wheat should be discussed — 

 where and how it is grown. This would give an opportunity for geography 

 teaching and for economic teaching, which might well be utilised : diagrams 

 might be made to illustrate the consumption, yield per acre, price, imports and 

 exports, etc 



The children should be set to examine and describe wheat— the average size 

 and weight of the grains, their appearance, density, etc. They should also be 

 set to grow it— to plant it in different ways, in dry and wet sawdust, in sand 

 and in soil and also just dipping into water on muslin tied over the mouth of a 

 bottle. Wherever possible, wheat should be grown as a crop in the school 

 garden. 



A regular account of all that went on should be kept. 



To return to bread — having made flour (or before this, if desirable) they 

 should assist in actually making a batch of bread in the kitchen and be led to 



I 



