Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1889-03-23

A GREAT DEAL OF WATER AND GAs-THr DIETARY
OF DIFFERENT fEoPLEs-AMERIcANs BErrKR
FED THAN ANYONE ELSA wAsTKTrL CON-
SUMPTION OF FOOD.
Prof. W. o. Atwater. of the Department Of
Agriculture, was surrounded by formidable
array of great glass jars and bottles. and had
set of gaudy charts for a background when he
began his lecture on The composition Of our
bodies and our foods" last Saturday afternoon
in the lecture room Of the national museum.
il was the second Of the course Of Saturday
scientific lectures, but there were presenoes
around the speaker that might have misled the
large audience into the belief that free lunch
was the order of the day. A tempting beef
steak lay on platter, accompanied by pile OF
potatoes in dish. couple OF loaves of bread
and a neat little pat of butter.
CONSTITUENT ELEMENTS OF TIRE Ropr.
Whatever may have been the popular belief
the lecturer soon dispelled all illusions by
stating that the articles around him were but
samples of the constituent elements Of human
body and the food that goes 20 support il and
70 supply those elements. The table contain
ing the steak, potatoes, loaf of bread and
butter, he said. gave an idea of what the day's
ration of a man should be. lie then plunged
at once into the chemistry OF his subject by
stating that the body OF an average American
male, without clothing, weighs about l4s
pounds and Is composed of thirteen chemical
elements; he did not moralize upon the eject
of the number IL. but suggestive move
ment in the audience showed that il had its
effect. These elements are oxygen. hydrogen,
nitrogen. chlorine, frorine, carbon. phospho-
rus, sulphur. iron. calcium. magnesium. pot
assium and sodium.
CHANCE FOR EXPANSION.
Beginning with an enormous Jar on one end
of the line Prof Atwater showed the various
quantities and proportions OF these elements
which the body contains. 30 pounds of oxygen,
that would NIL a space of nearly LOCO cubic feet
II freed; IA pounds OF hydrogen, filling 2 700
cubic feet: ounces of chlorine, occupylug l..
cubic feet if freed: 81 ounces of fuorine and
so on until folks began 10 wonder If they were
not IN constant danger of a terrific explosion
with all OF these gases bottled up within their
bodies ready 10 expand into space equal TO
that occupied by quite a syndicate.
A great black block. IA inches square at least.
showed the amount of carbon IN the body If
put IN the form OF charcoal. litter ran over
the audience when Prof Atwater solemnly re-
marked that the body contains clio ounces of
sodium. which mingled with the chlorine and
formed common salt Iron is given a very
small space IN the body. which contains but
| lilo of an ounce; Its work consists principally
in giving the blood Its red color.
| GOOD DEAL OF WATER.
The body of a man. said the speaker. con-
tains about IS quarts of water. enough TO nh
two enormous jars at his left hand The bones
contain - per cent. OF water. the nerves IS per
cent, the skin 80 per cent. the blood 50 per
cent, which Is about the same proportion as
! that In milk
portly jar filed with light yellow sub
stance, the dried. pulverized flesh OF Goldfish
! represented the ~ pounds of albuminous mat
tor contained in tine body. This gives the
substance of the muscles. All food consists of
! both edible and refuse portions; m roast beef
fully one fourth Is refuse. consisting of the
! bones &c, while fully another fourth is
water. The speaker then referred 70 a
colored chart showing the nutritiye ingre-
dents. water aud refuse. in food materials.
Some interesting comparisons were noted, as.
Tor instance, that oysters and milk contain
| about the same quantities OF nutritive proper
| ties, about one-eighth of their bulk. Milk
contains more fat and less protein" which is
the element contributing TO the solid nutrition
OF the body. Oleomargarine has about the
same nfe-supportlng properties butter.
Potatoes consist OF 20 per cent of water The
protein substances make the muscle and the
bone, and the fats are stored in the body as fat
and serve as fuel. Lean meats contain less
potential energy than others.
WHAT DIFFERENT PEOPLE EAT.
Attention was then called TO a couple of
| charts showing the dietaries of different peo-
pies, one giving those of Europeans and Japan
/ ese and the other those OF Americans COM
parison Of the two showed at glance that the
/ food eaten by Americans Is far more nutrtive
and hfe-giving than that eaten by the other
Glasses. Among the classes named ON the trans
Atlantic chart were London sewing girl. Lom-
| Dardy laborers. English weavers, Trappist
monks. Japanese students. college professors
| lawyers. physicians. cabinet makers. tailors
blacksmiths. miners, soldiers and brewery la
borers The sewing girls diet pitifully
small. and Professor Atwater said. feeliuglv
that he wished he had time TO tell the
I h4ln 80 MI ..H
The only diet of which he had ever heard as
being smaller than hers was that of Gen
Greely's party while in the frozen north. On
the other side of the chart were the diets of
French Canadians, glass-blowers. factory oper-
| atlyes, boarding club. college students pro-
| fessional men, a college football team and
other American classes. The results showed
that the quantity OF energy represented By the
European dietary varies from 2.5OO TO 400
calorles-heat units-a day. while that of
Americans produces from $500 to 5 5000 calories.
wAsTEFUL AMERICANS.
"And yet" continued the speaker. 1.-The
American wastes far more food than do tine
Europeans; there is much oyereating done ia
this country. especially among those who do
not needi it. The reason is that. as a nationwe
have plenty of food and plenty of money where
with to buy it. We hike meats. and We like
sweetmeats., l once heard foreigner remark
that the sweet-tooth of the average American is
something wonderful. We eat what We like,
often to the great detriment of our health and
our purse. 1t is the poor mans money that
Is worse spent IN the market and the poor
mans money that is worst used on the table"
TO EDUCATE THE PEOPLE.
Prof. Atwater made an earnest appeal for
missionary work in this respect in educating
the people up to the proper knowledge of what
best TO buy and to eat, and paid a glowing
tribute to the pioneers who have started cook
ing schools for young girls; He thought that
our ample food has had much to do with the
advanced stage Of our civilization, and closed
his lecture with bit Of eloquence in favor of
the education of the masses in the other
regions of the world. As TO the necessities OF
the body, that caused long and loud applause
Fruit or Meat?
Richardson in Longrmau's Magazine.
The food which is most enjoyed is the food
We call bread and fruit. In my long medical
career, extending over forty years, 1 have
rarely known instance in which a child has
not preferred fruit TO animal food. / have
many times been called upon 10 treat children
for stomachic disorders induced by pressing