Methods and results of investigations on the chemistry and economy of food / By W. O. Atwater.

  • Atwater, W. O. (Wilbur Olin), 1844-1907.
Date:
1895
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Methods and results of investigations on the chemistry and economy of food / By W. O. Atwater. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Augustus C. Long Health Sciences Library at Columbia University and Columbia University Libraries/Information Services, through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the the Augustus C. Long Health Sciences Library at Columbia University and Columbia University.

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    PURPOSE AND PLAN OP THIS BULLETIN. This bulletin has a twofold purpose: to summarize some of the results of late inquiry as to the physiological and pecuniary economy of food, and to indicate questions now demanding study aud desirable methods of investigation. Among the results of inquiry dwelt upon are the chemical comi)osi- tion of materials used for the food of man; the proportions of nutritive ingredients; their digestibility; their fuel values; the ratios between their values for nutriment and their cost; the kinds of food and ijro- portions of nutrients best adapted to the demands of people of different classes and occupations; the errors in our food economy; and the sociological and agiicultural bearings of the subject. Tlie questions proposed for study are sucb as the above-named topics suggest. They center around the general j^roblem of food economy. Some are abstrusely scientific and reach into the higher realms of chemistry and physiology, but these are as necessary for the practical inquiry as the foundation is for the house. All bear directly or indi- rectly upon health, home life, and household, agricultural, and national economy. The methods of inquiry recommended are mainly such as have been elaborated more or less completely by experience and described succinctly by specialists. Some, however, are new and still in the process of development. COLLABOKATORS. In the preparation of this bulletin the author has enjoyed the valu- able assistance of Messrs. C. D. Woods, H. B. Gibson, aud C. F. Lang- worthy. Mr. Woods has performed a large part of the labor of com- piling the analyses of foods, and the results of his experience in the study of methods and the actual work of analysis in the laboratory during the last fifteen years or more are embodied in the description of methods of analysis recommended. He has also assisted in the studies of dietaries and compilation of results. Dr. Gibson, who has likewise shared in the studies of foods and dietaries for several years, has done a large part of the work of compiling the results of such studies. Dr. Langworthy has shared in the collating of studies of dietaries and has been especially helpful in the collating of the results of investiga- tions of the digestibility of foods.