SCIENCE 



Friday, May 24, 1918 



COXTENTS 



Some Probleyns of Nutrition in the Army: 

 Major John E. Muelin 495 



Iceland Spar in Montana: Dr. Chas. L. Par- 

 sons 508 



Scientific Events: — 



Inventions Section of the General Staff of 

 the Department of War; The Volunteer 

 Medical Reserve Corps; The National Be- 

 search Council 509 



Scientific Notes and News 512 



University and Educational News 516 



Discussion and Correspondence : — 



Walnut Pollen as a Cause of Hay Fever: 

 Dr. Harvey Monroe Hall. The Canons of 

 Comparative Anatomy: W. P. Thompson. 

 Albino Turkey Buzsards: Harry C. Ober- 

 HOLSER 516 



Scientific Boohs: — 



Arber's The Earlier Mesozoic Floras of New 

 Zealand: Db. E. W. Berry 518 



Special Articles: — 

 The Factors influencing the Attitude of the 

 Bead in Animals with Injury to One Otic 

 Labyrinth: Drs. B. Aronovitch and F. H. 

 Pike. A Slow-speed Kymograph: Dr. Eu- 

 gene L. Porter 519 



The American Mathematical Society: Dr. F. 

 N. Cole 520 



MSS. intended for publication and books, et€., intended for 

 review should be seat to The Editor of Science,' GarTi«oD-OD- 

 Hudson, N. Y. 



SOME PROBLEMS OF NUTRITION 

 IN THE ARMYi 



Food has been defined as a well-tasting 

 mixture of materials, which, when taken in 

 proper quantity into the stomach, is capable 

 of maintaining the body in any desired 

 state. The choice of these mixtures in the 

 form of menus, their preparation for the 

 plate, their digestion and fate in the body, 

 is the science of nutrition. If we had a 

 complete knowledge of every food substance 

 and the transformation it undergoes in the 

 body; how it is prepared for usefulness, 

 just what purpose it fulfils, how it fulfils 

 this purpose and what becomes of it after- 

 ward — if we knew all this for every food- 

 stuff ; every class of substance we can use as 

 food — we should have a completed science 

 of nutrition. 



A person is satisfactorily nourished when 

 he is maintained in a phj-sical and mental 

 status — and we all know that food plays a 

 part in maintaining mental as well as phys- 

 ical status — best fitted for the task he has 

 to perform. We can begin now in view of 

 the military situation in Europe to grasp 

 the size of the task our army is destined to 

 perform. What is the most desirable 

 status, physical and mental, for our army ? 

 Very few of our soldiers have been in a 

 fight, and none practically speaking, have 

 lived the trench life — the life of the modern 

 soldier. We have now under arms well on 

 to a million and a half men who, six months 

 ago, were leading peaceful pursuits — the 

 majority of them, perhaps, sedentary, or 

 at least unniuseular pursuits. In spite of 



1 AtWrcss delivered before the College of Physi- 

 cians, Philadelphia, April 3, 1918. 



