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IOWA academy of science 
body physiologic. The ‘ ^ psychic ’ ’ or ‘ ■ appetite ’ ’ juice from the 
Pavlov angle has a new and broadening influence. After all the 
forces potent and the reactions and actions evident within the 
living organism have more significance than most of us have 
dreamed. 
The feeding of children according to their appetite has a 
champion in a popular lecturer and writer, Hutchinson,^® who 
presents the proposition in this vein: ‘‘We recognized, years 
ago, that instinct, craving, an untaught preference for a par- 
ticular thing or action always means something; indeed, we 
might almost say in Browning’s phrase, that it ‘means intensely 
and means good,’ in nine cases out of ten. It is the crystallized 
result of the experience of thousands of generations, and while, 
like all other impulses, it must take its place in the parliament 
of instincts and submit to the rules of order of reason, in the 
main it is a safe and invaluable guide”. This statement is 
stimulated largely in discussing the child’s instinct or cravings 
which lead sugar-ward. 
Very interestingly, he pursues the subject further, telling of 
the appetite of the normal child, speaking of it in this wise : 
‘ ‘ The appetite of a healthy child of the kindergarten age is some- 
thing appalling. He is a walking famine, a hunger incarnate. 
All is grist that comes to his mill, and all hours of the day or 
night are alike to him. But he needs every ounce that he will 
devour, and not one penny’s worth of it will be wasted. Don’t 
bother about the child. Just be sure that his food is right, pure, 
sound, and of the best quality, then let him go ahead ! His 
wisdom is of the ages; yours where it clashes with his, is of the 
almanacs, of the catechisms and copybooks, of the silly chatter 
of the street and the kitchen”. 
Certainly this argument of Hutchinson’s is quite sensible and 
well worth our while to consider seriously. Those of us who have 
children realize that there is, to all intents and purposes, more 
truth than fiction in these things talked about. The idea of 
allowing children to eat when they will, which we have found 
to work admirably with pigs, is expressed by Hutchinson thusly : 
“The notion that the stomach requires a certain definite inter- 
val or rest between tasks in order to get up its supply of gastric 
juice has been completely exploded”. 
“Hutchinson, Woods: We And Our Children, pp. 65, 79, 81, 84, 98. 
