822 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXX. No. 780 



that may be expected of them is largely due to 

 the imperfections of the scientific work of the 

 past and so makes evident the importance of 

 undertaking in the present purely scientific studies 

 which will lead to more definite and valuable 

 results when future experiments are directed to 

 the solution of practical problems. 



No field of study opens so widely or presents 

 so many opportunities for gaining knowledge of 

 untold practical importance as that of animal 

 nutrition. 



As an illustration of the importance of gaining 

 information respecting the fundamental problems 

 of nutrition, the knowledge gained during the last 

 few years respecting the constitution of the pro- 

 teins may be mentioned. 



As a result of these recent discoveries the whole 

 question of protein assimilation is put in an 

 entirely new light, multitudes of new questions 

 are raised which must be answered before the 

 feeding of these substances can be carried out on 

 a scientific and intelligent basis. Heretofore in 

 conducting feeding experiments proteins have been 

 assumed to be of equal nutritive value and no 

 definite evidence has been obtained which shows 

 whether or not this is so. The wide differences in 

 the constitution of the proteins of different animal 

 and vegetable tissues at once raises the question of 

 their relative nutritive value and the best methods 

 of feeding them. Definite information respecting 

 the nutritive value of each of the proteins com- 

 monly employed for food can not fail to show the 

 way to new experiments with the use of commer- 

 cial feeding stuffs and ought sooner or later to 

 show the way to more productive and economical 

 uses of these foodstuffs. A similar knowledge of 

 the actual nutritive relations of phosphorus-con- 

 taining substances^ would likewise doubtless lead 

 to similarly important results and deserves far 

 more attention from a purely scientific standpoint 

 than it has yet received. 



Concerning all these questions we know some- 

 thing, but how little this is in comparison with 

 what remains to be discovered. These are hard 

 problems but they must be solved, before agricul- 

 tural practise can have the benefit of what science 

 can do for it. 



Such work is intensely individual in 

 character. The prime factor is the man. 

 The principal service, and a highly impor- 



' The experiments of McCollum, at the Wiscon- 

 sin station, published since this was written, are 

 most important on this point. 



tant one, which an organization can render 

 is to aid in providing the opportunity. 

 Such service I earnestly hope our society 

 may be able to perform, especially in the 

 direction of impressing upon public senti- 

 ment as represented in legislative bodies, 

 on the one hand, and upon the minds of 

 benevolent men of wealth, on the other, 

 hand, the fundamental importance of sci- 

 entific research for the successful solution 

 of the problem of the future food supply. 



The other main line of experimental ef- 

 fort relates to the economic application in 

 practise of the principles discovered by 

 scientific investigation. Along this line, as 

 I see it, there is a wide field open for fruit- 

 ful experimental work, but this aspect of 

 the subject was so fully dealt with last 

 year in the report of the committee on or- 

 ganization that it seems superfluous to 

 enter into it anew at this time. 



Finally, along both lines of effort, but 

 especially the second, there should be a 

 coordination of effort and of spirit com- 

 bined with the largest possible scope for 

 individual initiative. This society owes its 

 origin largely to a feeling of dissatisfac- 

 tion over the more or less fragmentary 

 and elementary nature of our past work. 

 The discussions of the Cornell confer- 

 ence and of the last annual meeting of 

 the society, as well as the incorpora- 

 tion into its constitution of the provision 

 for a committee on experiments, clearly 

 shows a desire on the part of investi- 

 gators for closer relations with each other 

 and a more broadly conceived program 

 of investigation. It is hoped that the 

 meetings of this society and the work of its 

 committee may at least be serviceable in 

 defining problems and improving methods. 



But no program of agricultural investi- 

 gation can be truly national in its scope 

 which does not include the greatest agri- 

 cultural agency perhaps in the world — 



