342 



SCIENCE. 



[Vol. VII., No. 167 



can it be placed for examination in the hands of 

 the committee ? What other persons have heard 

 of this apparition ? How soon did they hear of 

 it? Can they now be communicated with? 

 What are then addresses? If possible, transmit 

 their accounts at the same time with the narrative 

 of the one who actually experienced the appari- 

 tion in question. If two or more had the experi- 

 ence in common, then names and separate narra- 

 tives should be given. If this is not possible, give 

 their names and addresses. 



These questions are not meant to cover all the 

 ground in every case, but only to indicate the in- 

 formation desired, and the most helpful sorts of 

 information. In dealing with all these accounts, 

 the committee will be governed by no pre-con- 

 ceived theory or prejudice. They wish simply to 

 hear and examine the facts, and to draw there- 

 from whatever conclusions may prove to be war- 

 ranted by the evidence. To this end they invite 

 friendly co-operation from all well-disposed per- 

 sons. 



Correspondents may feel assured that their com- 

 munications will be treated as thoroughly con- 

 fidential by the committee when specially re- 

 quested so to treat them. 



The committee may be able to devote a some- 

 what limited time to the personal examination of 

 the phenomena connected with so-called haunted 

 houses, and would be glad to hear of such phenom- 

 ena from persons in the vicinity of Boston. 

 The fullest details are requested from all who may 

 offer information on this topic. 



Communications may be addressed to any mem- 

 ber of the committee, which is constituted as fol- 

 lows : Josiah Royce, chairman, Cambridge, Mass. ; 

 Morton Prince, M.D., secretary, Boston, Mass. ; 

 T. W. Higginson, Cambridge, Mass. ; J. C. Ropes, 

 40 State Street, Boston, Mass. ; F. E. Abbot, Cam- 

 bridge, Mass. ; Roland Thaxter, 98 Pinckney 

 Street, Boston, Mass. ; Woodward Hudson, Con- 

 cord, Mass. 



FOOD-CONS UMPTION. 

 The Massachusetts bureau of statistics of labor 

 devotes considerable space, in its last annual re- 

 port, to this subject, on account of its vital con- 

 nection with the condition of the workingman. 

 The author says, very justly, that the food-prob- 

 lem is one of the most important that can engross 

 the attention of the people, and of practical inter- 

 est to the wage-worker, as much money is wasted 

 in the purchase of food which might be saved by 

 its expenditure in accordance with the results of 

 scientific research. The truth of tliis is apparent 

 to those who have observed how little the poor 

 understand economy in the choice of foods. 



The economic value of food-substances cannot 

 be measured by their money cost, but by the 

 amount and kind of nutritive material which they 

 contain. This material the author divides into 

 three different classes — viz., proteines, fats, and 

 carbohydrates — in addition to the mineral matters, 

 and bases the relative value of food-substances 

 upon the available amounts contained. 



The relative physiological values of the nutrients 

 in different foods depend, first, upon their digesti- 

 bility ; and, second, upon their functions and the 

 proportions in which they can replace each other 

 in nutrition. Their accurate physiological valua- 

 tion is, in the present state of our knowledge, im- 

 practicable ; but their pecuniary costs are more 

 nearly capable of approximation. From extended 

 and careful comparisons of the composition and 

 market prices of the more important animal and 

 vegetable food-materials, which form the bulk of 

 the food of the people, it is estimated that a pound 

 of proteine costs, on the average, five times as 

 much, and a pound of fats three times as much, 

 as a pound of carbohydrates. Of these, proteine 

 is physiologically the most important, as it is 

 pecuniarily the most expensive, and its cost may 

 be used as a means of comparing the relative 

 cheapness or dearness of different food-materials. 

 Taking the cost of food-materials in New York as 

 a basis, and making allowance for the cost of the 

 other nutrients, the proteine in a pound of sirloin 

 beef at 25 cents is estimated at $1.06 ; in a pound 

 of mutton at 22 cents, 91 cents ; in a pound of 

 oysters at 35 cents per quart, $3.36 ; in shad at 8 

 cents, 66 cents ; in milk at 7 cents per quart, 53 

 cents ; in wheat-bread at 8 cents, 38 cents ; oat- 

 meal and beans at 5 cents, 14 and 15 cents. 



The nutrients of vegetable food are, in general, 

 much less costly than in animal foods. The 

 animal foods have, however, the advantage of 

 containing a larger proportion of proteine and 

 fats ; and the proteine, at least, in more digestible 

 forms. Among the animal foods, those which 

 rank as delicacies are the costliest. Thus the 

 proteine in oysters costs from two to three dollars, 

 and in salmon rises to over five dollars per pound. 

 In beef, mutton, and ham, it varies from $1.06 to 

 33 cents ; in shad, bluefish, haddock, and halibut, 

 the range is about the same ; while in cod and 

 mackerel, fresh and salted, it varies from 75 to as 

 low as 31 cents per pound. Salt cod and salt 

 mackerel are nearly always, fresh cod and mack- 

 erel often, and even the choicer fish, as bluefish 

 and shad, when abundant, cheaper sources of 

 proteine than any but the inferior kinds of meat 

 Among meats, pork is the cheapest ; but salt pork 

 or bacon has the disadvantage of containing very 

 little proteine. 



