256 STORRS AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION. | 
apparently the whole of the wheat kernel, including the outer 
coat, is used since the quantity of crude fiber, 2.1 per cent. on 
the average, indicates that none of it has been removed in the 
preparation of this product. ‘The wheat berry contains, accord- 
ing to an average of nearly 200 analyses, at least 2 per cent. of 
crude fiber. On the other hand, some of the other prepara- 
tions contain only 0.5 per cent., which would indicate that the 
larger part of this material had been removed. 
Mineral matters.—'The various mineral salts present in food 
are commonly designated in tables of analyses as ash, because 
when the sample analyzed is completely burned they remain as 
ash and are weighed as such. ‘These mineral substances are a 
very important and necessary ingredient of food, but their use 
by the body has as yet been much less thoroughly studied than 
that of the other ingredients, hence not so much 1s definitely 
known concerning their functions. Mineral matters are pres- 
ent in the various tissues of the body, and especially in the 
bones, and they appear to be indispensable to a normal action 
of the nutrient fluids and digestive juices. A certain supply 
is therefore necessary, but much less than that of the other in- 
gredients of food. ‘The total amount of ash or mineral matter 
present in the human body is small as compared with that of 
other substances, and the quantity in the ordinary diet appears 
to be abundant. It is quite noticeable, however, that those 
who know the most about these substances are generally the 
least ready to make definite and sweeping statements concern- 
ing them. The contrast between this and the positiveness with 
which many persons discourse about them is marked, and has 
its moral. 
So far as the different cereal products are concerned, it will 
be noticed that a large majority of them contain a small but ap- 
preciable amount of mineral matters; but until more is known 
about the different kinds present and their importance in nor- 
mal nutrition, it will be obviously impossible to compare the 
different cereals as sources of mineral matters. _ 
Cereal preparations compared with other foods.—At the end of 
Table go are given the figures representing the composition and 
energy value of a few common vegetable foods. It is interest- 
ing to compare these with the figures for the prepared cereal 




