906 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXV. No. 649 



stock, reaching from 100,000 to 200,000 an- 

 nually. Shipments from the supply centers, 

 as Texas, Indian Territory and Alabama, are 

 liable to be centers of quail disease infection, 

 and in this case shipments may be discon- 

 tinued by law. 



The second paper was by Dr. F. V. Coville 

 on ' Photographic Eeproduction of Kara 

 Botanical Books.' He referred to the desira- 

 bility of having reproductions of rare and 

 valuable works to which frequent reference is 

 made, in order to preserve the originals. 

 These were made by photographing each page 

 and binding the resulting prints into a book. 

 Specimens of such reproductions were ex- 

 hibited. These had been made for actual use 

 in botanical work, some of them so closely 

 simulating the original as to scarcely show 

 they were photographs. Pages yellowed by 

 age, however, show black or dark in the repro- 

 duction. 



The third paper, by Mr. E. E. C. Steams 

 on ' The Composition and Decomposition of 

 Fresh Water Mussel Shells, with Notes and 

 Queries,' was read by Dr. Palmer in the ab- 

 sence of the author. It will be published in 

 full in the Proceedings of the society. 



M. C. Marsh, 

 Recording Secretary 



THE PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON 



The 634th meeting was held on April 27, 

 1907, President Hayford in the chair. The 

 society heard an address by Dr. H. W. Wiley, 

 upon the subject of ' How Much Do We Eat ? ' 

 After briefly mentioning, without discussion, 

 the three principal schools of philosophy rela- 

 tive to man's food consumption, the speaker 

 proposed three points of discussion having a 

 direct bearing upon the subject of how much 

 do we eat, viz : the proper proportions of food 

 necessary for growth; for equilibrium of 

 weight, and for old age; the second only of 

 these three was discussed at length. The 

 speaker reviewed briefly the experiments car- 

 ried out under his direction, where records 

 have been kept for nearly five years of the 

 quantities of food eaten by healthy young 

 men. Some fifty or sixty young men have 



been under observation during this period, and 

 all the food which they have eaten has been 

 carefully weighed. 



In the fore period, preliminary to the ob- 

 servations, the ration which the young men 

 would normally choose was changed one way 

 or the other in order to secure the equilibrium 

 desired. The proportion of protein to the 

 other elements of the ration was selected by 

 the normal taste of the subject, save in some 

 instances where there seemed to be a tendency 

 to eat too much meat, this was slightly 

 checked. A sample of all the results shows 

 that the dry food eaten by a man each day is 

 almost one per cent, of the weight of the body. 

 In other words, a young man weighing 150 

 pounds will eat in twenty-four hours 1.5 

 pounds of dry food. The weight of moist 

 food, including water, is almost exactly 4.25 

 per cent, of the weight of the body. The total 

 amount, therefore, of food and drink in the 

 state in which the food is consumed for a 

 young man of 150 pounds in twenty-four hours 

 is about 6.4 pounds. In other words, the 

 amount of water taken in his food and drink 

 during the day is nearly 5 pounds. 



Important questions of social and scientific 

 character arise in connection with the magni- 

 tude of the diet. Interesting observations 

 have lately been made looking to the diminu- 

 tion of the quantity of food eaten per day. 

 Mr. H. Fletcher has made interesting observa- 

 tions on this subject, and has sought to show 

 that the quantity of food ordinarily eaten is 

 too great. He calls attention to the fact that 

 slow and patient mastication may suffice to 

 make a less quantity of food satisfy hunger, 

 and furnish the necessary heat and energy for 

 the ordinary human activities. Mr. Fletcher 

 himself submitted to experimental investiga- 

 tions in the calorimeter at Middletown, Conn. 

 The data furnished by the calorimeter indi- 

 cated that more heat was evolved than could 

 possibly have been furnished by the quantity 

 of food claimed to be eaten. 



Of course, it is not possible that a man 

 may live without damage on less food than 

 would furnish the heat and energy for the 

 ordinary activities of life. There must neces- 

 sarily in this case be a waste and the waste 



