
142 STORRS AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION. 
DIETARY STUDIES IN THE CONNECTICUT 
HOSPITAL FOR THE INSANE. 
By W. O. ATWATER. 

The importance of more thorough study of the dietaries of 
_ public institutions is coming to be generally felt. The number 
of charitable institutions and the number of persons supported 
in them at the expense of the community are already large and 
rapidly increasing. The philanthropy of to-day demands that 
the welfare of the inmates shall be most carefully considered. 
The cost to the taxpayer requires the closest economy consistent 
with their welfare. 
In the home, on the farm, in the factory, in commercial 
establishments, on railroads, in municipal enterprises, indeed, 
almost everywhere, the results of scientific research are being 
put to practical use. It would seem that they ought to be 
capable of being utilized in the dietetic management of public 
institutions. The probability of their successful application 
here is rendered all the greater by the fact that during the 
past few decades a very large amount of scientific inquiry, and 
that of the highest order, has been devoted to the studies of 
food and nutrition. 
Appreciating these considerations, the New York State Com- 
mission in Lunacy has instituted an inquiry into the dietetic 
management of the hospitals for the insane in that State. 
This inquiry has been placed under the general direction of 
the writer. Accounts of the progress of the inquiry have been 
furnished for publication. in the tenth and eleventh annual 
reports of the Commission. 
In the belief that studies of dietaries in the Connecticut 
Hospital for the Insane would be of interest, advantage was 
taken of an opportunity offered for such study through the 
courtesy of Dr. C. W. Page, Superintendent of that institu- 
tion, and Dr. J. M. Keniston of the medical staff, to whom 
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