September 12, 1919] 



SCIENCE 



243 



to the very existence of civilization, and pro- 

 poses as one agency for its study the founda- 

 tion of a national laboratory of human nutri- 

 tion. The importance of the subject is such 

 that Lusk's proposal seems to invite discussion 

 on the part of those more or less directly 

 interested in the science of nutrition and its 

 utilization for the benefit of humanity. Ac- 

 cordingly I venture to submit for consider- 

 ation certain personal notions regarding the 

 kind of organization which is desirable and as 

 to steps which might be taken to secure it. 



It is to be remarked in the first place that 

 the subject of national (and still more of 

 international) nutrition is a very broad one, 

 involving much more than the mere laboratory 

 study of the laws of human nutrition, im- 

 portant as that is. It is a two-fold subject, 

 including the economical production of food 

 as well as its efficient utilization. The farmer, 

 like other producers, rightly desires a reason- 

 able reward for his services. The interests of 

 the consuming public demand a liberal food 

 supply at prices low enough to ensure the 

 adequate nourishment of all classes of the 

 community. It should be the aim of any 

 national organization of students of nutrition 

 to contribute to the harmonizing of these ap- 

 parently conflicting interests and to demon- 

 strating that in the large view they are not 

 antagonistic. Accordingly I feel inclined to 

 broaden the caption of Lusk's article and to 

 speak provisionally of a national institute of 

 nutrition. 



In the organization of such an institute 

 there are certain general principles which 

 should, as I think, control. 



1. It should not be burdened with executive 

 duties. Questions of transportation, market- 

 ing, cold storage, profiteering, price control, 

 rationing, etc., should be recognized as sub- 

 jects lying outside its field and with which 

 students of nutrition as such are not specially 

 qualified to deal. In brief, it should not be 

 an executive department of the government 

 nor have the functions of a food administra- 

 tion but should supply to legislative and ex- 

 eicutive authorities the scientific data upon 

 which any successful measures of food policy 

 must be based. 



2. It should be distinctly national in char- 

 acter and should be a means of integrating 

 and coordinating without controlling the 

 activities of the various existing agencies of 

 investigation. It should be so constituted 

 that it may represent the United States 

 officially in any international conference in- 

 volving questions of nutrition. 



3. It should be under the control of scientific 

 men and not subject to the vagaries of legis- 

 lative bodies nor dependent upon them for 

 anniial appropriations with the accompanying 

 pressure to emphasize popular and spectacular 

 work. This is an additional reason for not 

 making it an executive department. 



The natural organizing authority of such 

 an institute as is here contemplated would 

 seem to be the National Research Council. 

 Both because of its intimate relations with the 

 ITational Academy of Sciences and by virtue 

 of the executive order of May 11, 1918, it is 

 recognized as a national body representing the 

 organized scientific activities of the United 

 States. Moreover, the Research Council has 

 already taken a first step in the direction in- 

 dicated by authorizing the appointment of a 

 committee on food and nutrition. Presumably 

 the purpose has been to select a committee 

 representative of the nutrition investigators 

 of the country while the matter is still suffi- 

 ciently fluid to permit of any necessary modi- 

 fications. Here, as it seems to me, is an ideal 

 body to constitute a board of control of the 

 proposed institute. It would determine, sub- 

 ject to the approval of the N^ational Research 

 Council, the general policy of the institute, 

 while the immediate administration would 

 naturally be confided to a director selected or 

 nominated by the governing body and respon- 

 sible to it but given large discretionary powers. 



It would be premature to attempt to outline 

 in any detail the field of work of a national 

 institute of nutrition but it would seem that 

 it would rather naturally divide itself into 

 four sections: 



I. Statistical. — ^What are the total food re- 

 quirements of the United States? What is the 

 actual food consumption and how much of this 

 is avoidable waste? How is food consumption and 

 food waste distributed among different classes of 



