120 MAIXE AGRICULTUAL EXPERIMENT STATION'. I905. 



Some of the cereal foods are fully cooked and may be eaten 

 dry without further preparation, or, as many prefer, with the 

 addition of cream and sugar. In a few cases the manufacturers 

 cater still farther W the popular taste by wetting the cereal with 

 a salted or sweetened solution, after which it is again dried and 

 slightly browned. \Mthin a few years a statement has been 

 quite generally circulated that certain foods of this class contain 

 arsenic. Compounds of arsenic are not tmcommon in soils ; and 

 since plants are unable to exclude many salts which occur dis- 

 solved in the water of the soil, it may be readily believed that 

 arsenic may thus find its wa)' into growing crops. The amount 

 of this element which can accumulate in the cereal grains by nat- 

 ural methods is, however, too small to excite our apprehension. 

 On the other hand it is difficult to conceive any motive which 

 should lead to its intentional introduction. The writer has 

 exa m ined a number of samples of goods which for some reason 

 had fallen tmder suspicion, using the most delicate tests, but 

 always with negative results. 



coirposiTiox. 



Tne value of any food must depend primarily upon the kind 

 and amount which they contain of certain proximate principles 

 which experience has taught us are absolutely essential to the 

 maintenance of life and health. The composition of these foods 

 is, therefore, a matter of great importance. The accompanying 

 table gives the average composition of those preparations of com, 

 oats and wheat which have been collected in ]\laine markets and 

 anatyzed at this Station. For purposes of comparison there is 

 given in the same table the composition of three kinds of flour, 

 all prepared from the same hard spring wheat. 



The terms employed here for the most part require no explana- 

 tion. For the benefit of non-scientific readers a few words 

 regarding the "heat of combustion*' may not be out of place.* 



One ver\- important function of food is to supph- energy- to the 

 body, where it is developed in the form of muscular activit)?^, 

 body heat, and probably in mental processes also. It may be 

 stated in a sfeneral wav that the ener8r\- furnished the bodv bv 



*The reader is referred to Farmers' BullettQ Xo. 142, U. 5. Dept. Agriculture 

 The Principles of yutrition and Nutritive Value of Food. 



