
pe 
REPORT OF THE DIRECTOR. 9 
from public sources, so wide a range of subjects of investigation 
might seem inexcusable. ‘The justification is found in two facts. 
One is that the several lines of investigation upon the food and 
nutrition of animals and man are more or less nearly parallel 
with each other and are so conducted as to form really one 
department of inquiry. The other is that a considerable part 
of the work is done with little or no expense to the Station 
treasury. Free use is had of rooms and apparatus in the chemi- 
cal laboratory of Wesleyan University, whose trustees are desirous 
of promoting scientific research, especially that of the more 
abstract kind to which an already large and gradually increasing 
part of the investigations belongs. The calorimetric investiga- 
tions especially are of this order. The studies of dietaries are 
made in codperation with the U. S. Department of Labor, which 
bears a large part of the expense. The cost of the investigations 
of foods exhibited at the World’s Fair is borne mainly by the 
Bureau of Awards of the Columbian Commission. Considerable 
sums have been given from time to time by private individuals in 
aid of different parts of the more purely scientific inquiry. 
Though these sums have been placed in charge of the treasurer 
of Wesleyan University they have been applied directly to the 
payment of the expenses of the inquiries, the results of which 
have been and are to be published in the Reports of the Station. 
And finally, a considerable amount of service has been rendered 
gratuitously. This is notably the case with the bacteriological 
investigations of Prof. Conn which bear so directly upon the 
dairy industry. It is certainly the belief of many friends of the 
Station that its efficiency is doubled by what comes to it outside 
of the government appropriation. 
Abstract research is the necessary foundation of the most use- 
ful knowledge and a large amount of it is being carried on in 
connection with the work of the Station. Partly because we have 
but little completed research of this kind to report now, and 
partly because it is of less interest to practical men, almost none 
is given here. The whole of the contents of the present Report 
have to do with things of everyday interest. And I may add 
that while the subjects reported upon bring less of new conclu- 
sions than have been found in several previous Annual Reports, 
no year in the history of the Station has been marked by so much 
of active and really fruitful work. The following brief statements 
will give an idea of the character of the year’s work. 
