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IOWA ACADEMY OF SCIENCE 
wildly about leaving food valuations to the ‘ old cow. ' It is con- 
sidered sometimes a telling argument against the chemist’s wis- 
dom to declare that he and the old cow do not agree. Certainly 
the cow knows better than the chemist what she likes to eat, 
and it is little use to offer her foods she does not relish. Even 
a chemist knows* that. If, however, a dozen commercial feeding 
stuffs were spread around on a barn floor it would be much 
safer to trust an agricultural chemist, especially one experi- 
enced in stock feeding, to select a ration than any cow ever 
grown — Holstein, Ayrshire, Jersey, long-horned, dishorned, or 
what not. The cow would probably get at the corn meal and 
stay with it until well on the way to a fatal case of indigesti- 
bility. Her judgment is just about as good as that of a child 
with a highly cultivated ‘sweet tooth’ ”. 
Sherman® on the other hand, has well said, in speaking of 
man: “A well-ordered appetite may not only serve as an indi- 
cation of the amounts of food needed over long periods and 
under different conditions of activity, but also when the condi- 
tions of life are fairly uniform may be highly efficient in de- 
termining a regular intake of calories from day to day.” 
Faith in the ability of man to balance his own diet is very 
emphatically expressed by Sir James Crichton-Browne,’’ — “The 
nutrition of man involves an intelligent appreciation of the needs 
of the body, under different conditions of existence, and con- 
stant modification and adaptation to changing environment, and 
states of activity, and health. There is no finality about it”. 
To which might be added an appreciative. Amen ! 
After all when we come to consider the matter we are forced 
to admit that in spite of the quite impressive teachings of 
Chittenden® and his school, mankind keeps on eating just about 
in the “same old way,” namely, according to appetite and not 
according to the chemical scales. This is not evidence, of course, 
that what the vast majority does is the best, but it does signify 
that the new scheme of “Limitation” does not appeal sufficiently 
to affect a change in established habits of the people. 
Many well-meaning and enthusiastic individuals, among 
whom the author is included, who have tried the low protein 
standards of Chittenden soon lose their interest and revert to 
what appears to them, the ‘ ‘ good old appetite way. ’ ’ 
«Sherman, Henry C. : Chemistry of Food and Nutrition, p. 219. 
■“'Crichton-Browne, Sir James: Delusions in Diet or Parsimony in Nutri- 
tion, pp. 21, 22, 23. 
®Chittenden, Russell H. : Physiological Economy in Nutrition, also the 
Nutrition of Man. 
