OOTOBEB 25, 1907] 



SCIENCE 



563 



eessive proteid and because meat, as such, 

 contains poisonous elements. It is well known 

 that Liebig came to repudiate the idea that 

 the extractives of meat were nutritious, and 

 that investigation has shown them to be 

 poisonous. Eecently, Dr. F. B. Turck has 

 found^ that dogs, mice and rats fed on meat 

 extractives exhibit symptoms of poisoning and 

 often die. The poisonous effect is aggravated 

 by intestinal bacteria which find in these ex- 

 tractives an excellent culture medium. Dr. 

 Turck concludes : 



( 1 ) It ia clearly evident from these experi- 

 ments, which correspond to the investigations of 

 others, that the injurious effects of meat are not 

 due so much to the muscle proteid, myosin, as to 

 the extractives. 



(2) That the injurious effects of the extractives 

 are increased through the action of intestinal 

 bacteria. 



Dr. Turck does not find any evidence that 

 the extractives in small quantities are in- 

 jurious. 



Dr. Turck therefore concludes that the 

 " high liver " who uses much flesh and also an 

 excess of starch and sugar is a " bad risk " for 

 life insurance companies. He reconunends, if 

 meat is to be used, that the extractives first be 

 removed by special processes which he ex- 

 plains. He finds that the remaining part of 

 the meat is highly nutritious and an invalu- 

 able aid in many cases of weak stomachs. 

 He supplies much clinical evidence of the evils 

 of ordinary meat-eating, as well as of the 

 benefits obtainable from extract-free meat. 



These investigations, with those of Combe of 

 Lausanne, Metchnikofi and Tissier of Paris, as 

 well as Herter and others in the United States, 

 seem gradually to be demonstrating that the 

 fancied strength from meat is, like the fancied 

 strength from alcohol, an illusion. The " beef 

 and ale of England " are largely sources of 

 weakness, not strength. Whether in modera- 

 tion they are harmful may still be a matter of 

 conjecture. While the trend of recent experi- 

 ments is distinctly against the excessive use of 

 flesh foods, there are still needed many more 



* " Effect on Longevity of High Living," by 

 Fenton B. Turck, M.D., The Medical Examiner 

 and Practitioner, "Vol. XVII., No. 8, August, 1907. 



experiments — medical, athletic and industrial 

 — before the economics of diet can be estab- 

 lished on a secure basis. The experiment with 

 a vegetarian or semi-vegetarian diet at the 

 University of Chicago, which Director Stagg 

 is to make with the athletic teams, will be 

 watched with interest. 



Miles. loteyko and Kipiani seem to place 

 a larger reliance on the ergographic tests than 

 most physiologists. A thoroughly reliable 

 method of measuring endurance seems still to 

 be a desideratum. 



Irving Fisher 



A NEW NATIONAL BUFFALO KERB 

 The buffalo herd which was presented to 

 the national government by the New York 

 Zoological Society last year, to form the 

 nucleus of a great southwestern herd, was 

 shipped on October 11 to the new range of 

 7,680 acres that has been prepared for it in 

 the best portion of the Wichita Game Eeserve, 

 southwestern Oklahoma. On October 10 fif- 

 teen fine animals, the pick of the splendid 

 herd of forty-five head in the New York Zool- 

 ogical Park, were crated for shipment, each 

 in a roomy and comfortable crate, and shipped 

 to Cache, Oklahoma. In view of the nature 

 and object of the shipment — a gift to the 

 people, for the express purpose of helping to 

 preserve the American bison from ultimate 

 extinction — the American Express Company 

 and the New York Central Lines transport 

 the two cars free of charge from New York 

 to St. Louis, and the Wells-Fargo Express 

 Company also makes a free gift of the trans- 

 portation over the 'Frisco Road from St. Louis 

 to Cache. Both these favors are greatly ap- 

 preciated by the Zoological Society, which had 

 undertaken to make delivery at Cache. 



In 1906, the New York Zoological Society 

 received from the director of the Zoological 

 Park a suggestion that the society offer to 

 the national government, as a gift, a herd of 

 fifteen buffaloes with which to start a new 

 national herd. The proposal was warmly en- 

 dorsed by the executive committee of the 

 society. The offer was made to the Secretary 

 of Agriculture, who immediately accepted it. 



