Omaha daily bee., 1896-05-03

your newspaper or ride your bicycle. The
practical or human interest that lies In al
this to the layman. who il not interested IL
the abstract principles Of science, is that one
OF these days We shall know Just what kind
Of food will enable us to do the most WORK
for the least money, and. Incidentally. the
class OF foods that II is well to let alone.
Just the manner in which the experiment.
ers at Wesleyan are trying to find this out
is this: They have constructed this air-tighi
box of copper and zinc and wood. with all Its
varied and delicate appliances, and into this
box they put a-victim. l was going to call
him subject, | should say-sea him up
and then proceed to measure and weigh
everything he does and everything he eats,
Take the air he breathes. 1t is drawn from
the outside atmosphere down through a
cooling apparatus, which reduces its tenn
p%erlture to about 20 degrees below freezing
point, thus making 1t almost perfectly dry.
Drawn through the box and breathed by the
subject, this air takes up all the moisture
given on from the skin and lungs. This
air is again drawn through a cooler, which
reduces it to the same temperature as be-
fore. thus extracting the water 1t absorbed,
which may then ba measured. Do you think
this is a small matter? Are you aware,
pray, that merely in breathing you throw out
Of your lungs something like two pounds of
water every day?
THE EMOTIONS REGISTERED.
Chemical analysis determines the amount
of carbonic acid gas which the subject gives
off in breathing, and also the residual mois-
ture not deposited in the freezers and the
quantity of heat given of from
the skin Is the scheme to measure
things of the person under Investigation. This
is done simply by passing a stream of cold
water at a known temperature through a
series of copper boxes contained in the cham
Der and then out past a second thermometer,
which registers the change of temperature,
The air driven in is kept
at the same temperature as that coming out,
and the inner and outer walls Of the cham
Der are kept at an almost perfectly constant
temperatures; hence 1t follows that this
stream &C water will absorb all the heat
given off by the subject, and so perfectly
developed is this device that 1t Is already
possible to measure, with considerable eX-
actness, the difference between the heat ex-
pended when the patient is perfectly still
and when he is in motion. In the case Of
a Swede, who was among the first subjects
confined in the box, 1t was possible to crudely
measure the effects Of his emotion at being
released. He had been in for five days and
the mere pleasure and satisfaction expressed
by his bodily state were indicated in the
wonderful line of light which serves as the
needle to the galvanometer attached to the
machine.
So far the tests which have been going
on for several months have been directed
simply to perfecting the apparatus and to
making a long series Of trials as to the sub
ject's condition during the various stages
of his confinement. The practical food tests
are yet to come, Later 1t is proposed to
install within the box a bicycle, which has
been made into a disc dynamo, and set the
patient at work driving the bicycle dynamo.
With perfectly pure, fresh air and nothing
else to do 1t will be possible to measure
to a very fine point the effect upon the pa
tient of various diets. Thus these expert
mentors will attempt to express in terms Of
electrical units or even in foot-pounds the
amount Of work which a given subject will
be able to do on a diet of rump steak, of
rice, of milk and then of various diets
mixed.
1t Is thus that this machine will supple
ment the extended researches which our
Department of Agriculture, under the direc-
ton Of DR.. Atwater, has been making as to
the nutrltive value of various foods. The
point of the matter Is this: A chemist, in
his laboratory, may take a piece of sirlo!n
steak or a glass of milk or q. loaf OF bread
and tell you just how much protein and car
bohydrates and other scientifcally-named
materials these different articles contain. He
may then analyze the muscles Of the human
body, and find out their composition and the
especial ingredients which go to their max
ing. And then, if he puts these investiga-
lions 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 1t will be only a the
ory, whose value must be practically tested.
1t is Just this test which will be made in
the c~alorimeter at Middletown. Then the
amounts and composition of the %excreta,
solid, liquid and gaseous; the potential en-
ergy Of the materials taken into the body
and given off from it; the quantity of heat
radiated from the body, and the mechanical
equivalent Of the muscular work done-per-
haps eventually Of the brain work as well
all these may be measured and recorded:
II follows that with such a Gordon OF aValla-
bile data it will be possible 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 perhaps be pos
sible for the next generation to sit down
and make up a scientific schedule of what
it shall eat for breakfast, lunch or dinner,
with an absolutely accurate knowledge OF
the heat and energy giving value OF every
article of food put upon the table. and OF
the exact food requirements of the human
body for every kind Of activity or effort.
The cook Of the future can make up his
menu with as much accuracy and precision,
let us say, as does a dressmaker who takes
the measure of a figure, computes the amount
cloth required, the desirable colors of the
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 means a dis
tlnCt ana pfaCJlcdl dlulllOl u II SuIH VI
human knowledge. Profs. Atwater and Rosa
have been developing their apparatus and
for the past four years, and the
have cost many thousands OF
lollara. When it Is that several
are required to manage the
many parts of the work during an expert
ment, observations being recorded every two
day and night, for ten days, it Is
raadily seen that an experiment is a vele
aboriouo and expensive undertaking.; and
samples Of all the food eaten by the subject
investigation must be chemically an
llyzed, while other samples are burned in q
bomb calorimeter to determine their heat
yalues. This expense Is distributed among
he three parties to the investigation named;
he larger part. however, is borne by the
United States Department Of Agriculture.
does not appear that confinement within
he calorimeter is a very serious hardship,
or one of the patients who was incarcerated
,ained two pounds or more in weight, ate
slept we'll and reports having had
good time. 1t Is proposed to continue
hese experiments further, and the results
will be made public through reports which
'rof. Atwater and Prof. Rosa and others
in the work will write for the