May 24, 1918] 



SCIENCE 



507 



stock or dried hash which requires only 

 a short soaking in water and boiling to 

 make a very delicious dish. The Bureau 

 of Chemistry under the direction of Dr. 

 Alsberg is also working on this problem, 

 as is also the Bureau of Animal Industry 

 under Dr. llohler. There should be, as a 

 result of these studies, in time a very large 

 saving in the cost of living. Imagine the 

 difference in the cost of transportation of 

 milk with and without its water content, 

 quite aside from the saving in the cost of 

 refrigeration. Milk is 88 per cent, water, 

 meat is about 70 per cent, water. Prac- 

 tically all of the water can be extracted 

 from milk, leaving a powder which will go 

 into solution readily and, by combining 

 with sweet butter, can be turned out as a 

 product of any desired composition. Al- 

 ready it is possible to deliver milk of this 

 kind, -which at current retail prices costs 

 14 cents a quart, for less than 9 cents a 

 quart. There should be a corresponding 

 saving in the cost of meat, for two of the 

 largest factors in the cost of meat to-day 

 are refrigeration and freight charges. In 

 the case of milk, the reconstituted article is 

 just as palatable as the original milk and is 

 very much safer, for it can be pasteurized 

 twice, once just before powdering, and 

 again just after reconstitution with little 

 extra cost. In the case of meat in the form 

 of soup stock, hash and stew, which form 

 the bulk of meat consumption in the army, 

 the product again is just as palatable as 

 the original meat. 



There are many other aspects of the prob- 

 lem of nutrition of the army which would 

 interest you had I the time to take them up 

 in detail. One of the most interesting to 

 us in the office has been the preparation of 

 some special rations for the use of our own 

 American prisoners in Germany and for the 

 use of sick soldiers and prisoners. One of 

 the first things the Food Division was asked 



to do after its organization early in Sep- 

 tember was the preparation of an Amefi- 

 can Prisoners' ration. This request came 

 from the American Red Cross, and after a 

 few days we had prepared for them a ra- 

 tion which could be shipped in bulk to the 

 Red Cross Headquarters at Berne, Switzer- 

 land, and packed in parcels not to exceed 

 11 pounds in weight, according to the speci- 

 fications required by the German govern- 

 ment, and sent three times every two weeks 

 to the American prisoners held in Germany. 

 It was our task to see that such a parcel 

 contained enough food value for the Amer- 

 ican prisoner to last him until the next par- 

 cel should be due to arrive. Articles had 

 to be selected which could be packed in 

 small cartons, and which would be certain 

 to keep for the necessary length of time. 

 These articles also had to be such as could 

 be prepared readily for eating under the 

 limited facilities of the prison camp. The 

 list as finally made up runs somewhat as 

 follows: rice, sugar, dried beef, pork and 

 beans, peanut butter, soda crackers, evapo- 

 rated milk, milk chocolate, desiccated straw- 

 berry, jam, nutmargarine and dried figs. 

 Provision wag also made for variation and 

 substitution such as tea for coffee, marma- 

 lade for jam, oleo for nutmargarine, dried 

 apples, apricots, etc., for dried figs, hom- 

 iny for rice, corned beef for dried beef, etc. 

 I think we may all feel comforted by the 

 thought that if an American soldier is taken 

 prisoner, he will, by this beneficent ar- 

 rangement of the Red Cross, at least be 

 well fed. Information which seems to be 

 perfectly reliable from the Red Cross rep- 

 resentatives at Berne assures us that the 

 British provisions for their soldiers, which 

 are quite similar to ours, are not interfered 

 with, in any way, by the German govern- 

 ment at the present time. 



The requirements of the sick soldier are 

 very different from those of the healthy 



