The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1896-05-31

ing out, and the inner and outer walls
of the chamber are kept at an almost
perfectly constant temperature; hence
1t follows that this stream Of water
will absorb all the heat given off by the
subject, and SO Perfectly developed is
this device that it is already possible
TO measure, with considerable exact
ness, the difference between the heat
expended when the patient is perfectly
stlH and when he is in motion In the
case OF Swede, who was among the
ilrst SUBJECTS confined in the box, it was
possible to crudely measure the effects
OF his emotion at being released. He
mad been in for five days, and the mere
pleasure and satisfaction expressed by
his bodily state was Indicated in the
wonderful line of light which serves as
the needle to the galvanometer attach
ed to the machine
so far the tests which have been go
ing on for several months have been
directed simply to perfecting the appa-
ratus, and to making a. long series of
trials as to the subjects condition DUR
ing his confinement The practical food
tests are yet to come Later it is pro-
posed to install within the box a bicy
Gle. which has been made into a disc
dynamo, and set the patient at work
driving the bicycle dynamo. With per-
-CCNAS
to do, it will be possible to measure to
a very line point the effect upon the
patient OF various diets. Thus these ex-
perlmentS will ATTEMPT to express in
terms of electrical units or even in
foot-pornnds the amount of work which
given subject will be able to do on
diet of rump steak, of rice, of milk,
and then OF various diets mixed.
1t is thus that the machine will sup
plement the extended researches
which our department of agriculture.
under the direction of DR.. Atwater,
has been making as to the nutritive
value of various foods. The point of
the matter is this: A chemist, in his
laboratory, may take piece of sirloin
steak or a glass of milk or a loaf of
bread and tell you just how much por-
tein and carbohydrates and other sci
entiflcally named materials these differ
ent articles contain. He may then an
alyze the muscles of the human body.
and find out their composition and the
especial ingredients which go to their
making. And then, if he puts these
Investigations together, he may have
an admirable theory as to just what
foods are best adapted for making
muscle and brains, and keeping the
body warm. But it will be only a
theory, whose value must be practical |
ly tested.
1t is just this test which will be
made in the calorimeter at Middle'town.
Then the amounts and composition of
the eXcreta, solid, liquid and gaseous;
the potential energy of the materials
taken into the body and given off from
1T; the quantity of heat radiated off |
from the body, and the mechanical
equivalent of the muscular work done
perhaps eventually of the brain work
as well-all these may be measured and
recorded. 1t follows that with such a
Gordon of available data it will be pos
sible to accurately test the effect of
various foods and thus find the last
term in the analysis of food values
IN ITS PRACTICAL APPLICATION |
Put in more practical terms, the |
meaning of all this is that it will per-
.haps be possible for the next genera
ton to sit down and make up a scien-
ltific schedule of what it shall eat for
breakfast, lunch and dinner, with an !
absolutely accurate knowledge of the
heat and energy giving value of every
article of food put upon the liable, and |
of the exact food requirements of the
human body for every kind of activ- /
fty or effort. The cook of the future I
can make up his menu with as much
accuracy and precision, let US say, as
does a dressmaker whostakes the meas
ure of a figure, computes the amount
of cloth required, the desirable colors
of the material and its Warmth. and |
what is still more to the point, its
wearing value and its cost.
You will readily perceive from all
this that the Wesleyan calorimeter