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FOOD INVESTIGATIONS. sy: 
products would be a very large undertaking. Its necessity was 
not understood. The only thing to do was to make a begin- 
ning, and trust that, as the results should appear, help for 
further inquiry would be found. Accordingly, not far from 
one hundred specimens of meat and other animal food ma- 
terials were analyzed in the chemical laboratory of Wes- 
leyan University before the establishment of the Station, the 
expense being borne in part by the National Museum and in 
part by contributions from private sources. ‘The results of 
these investigations, taken in connection with some studies of 
dietaries which followed, implied that our meats contain much 
more fat than the needs of the consumer for nutrition call 
for, or the demands of home or foreign markets warrant; 
that, in other words, there is a serious error in the present 
method of meat production, which is so important a factor 
Peeaetictitute in the United States. To’ get more light 
upon this subject another series of analyses were made as a 
part of the chemical work of the Experiment Station. 
Finally, as a part of a. study of dietaries carried out in con- 
nection with the United States Department of Labor, a third 
series of analyses were performed. The results were all 
given, in the chapter on ‘‘The Composition of Food Ma- 
terials,’’ in the Report of this Station for 1891, pp. 46-90, 
and were used in the summarized table in that Report. 
The table thus prepared has served as a ‘‘standard table’’ 
of composition of American food materials up to the present 
time. A standard table is now in preparation for the U. 5. 
Department of Agriculture, which will include the results of 
over three thousand* analyses of American food products, 
more than two-thirds of which have been made since the 
above Report was printed. We have thus to-day a reasonably 
clear idea of the chemical composition and nutritive values of 
the food commonly in use in the United States. 
STUDIES OF DIETARIES. 
In 1886 Col. Carroll D. Wright, then Commissioner of 
Labor of the State of Massachusetts and since United States 
Commissioner of Labor, undertook some investigations of the 

* These do not include specimens of milk, butter, sugar, condiments, beverages, etc., of which 
a large number of specimens have been analyzed. Of the analyses included in the compilation 
referred to, not far from one-third were made in the chemical laboratory of Wesleyan Univer- 
sity, in connection with the work of the Station and otherwise. 
