The Montgomery advertiser., 1901-06-25
THE NEW REFORM
 IS BETTER FOOD
THE DAILY BILL-oF-FARE TEST ED BY CHEMICAL ANALYSIS.
Good Cooking Still the Most Impor- tant Factor-Expedments of Boston Woman in Sani-
 tary Science.

experts in sanitary chemistry. The re- suits have been so good that the be- ginning of a food reform movement on somewhat new lines Is predicted by those who have given the subject the most thoughtful consideration.
 Although it is not surprising that woman should be largely responsible for laying the foundations for the ex- pected reform, the fact that she should have begun her special work in the laboratory rather than in the kitchen, as a chemist rather than as cook, may perhaps give added interest to her success. Many women in all ages have shown ingenuity in preparing food so that it shoul ddelight the palate and the eye, but, singularly enough, Mrs. Ellen H. Richards, who has charge of the laboratory of sanitary chemistry at the Massachusetts In- stitute of Technology, has attacked the food problem on the more practical grounds of public economy and public well being. A chemist rather than caterer, she has sought the broad scientific principles upon which the economic sustenance of the human race depends, and has acquired the authori- ty that always results, sooner or later from exact knowledge.
 oNCE 4Vo yCdtS dSO SOhht the prophet of good cooking and an early patron of exact technical study, said that "the use of science is to ex- plain the operations which take place in the practice of the arts, and to dis cover the means of improving them; and there Is no process, however simple it may appear to be, that does not af- ford an ample field for curious and in- teresting investigation" And yet the same Count Rumford recognized that the proposal of anything at once new and important commonly carries with 1t something offensive to most people, a fact which makes a real improve ment in a vital matter a good deal more difficult than the introduction of trivial novelty.
 Ii is natural. therefore, that actual food reform and dietary progress should lag far behind the scientific de- | terminations of what a man must eat | iT<order to live as well and as econo- | mlcally as possible. By the creed of most men, the best food Is that which | their mothers used to cook, and the | selection of a diet that would enable | them to do their work most easily, to preserve their health. andrprolong their | lives, has usually seemed a matter of | remote importance.
 At the training table. however, the l college athlete learns that discrimina- ton in the matter of foods means an immense gain in physical strength and endurance-distinctly worth while when there Is a special object in view. In much the same way that the college | coach has been led to demand the training table, the physician has come to demand for hospital patients such food as will give them the best chance | of recovery. In both cases something definite is expected from the human machine, and the incidental cost is a | secondary consideration. But in the | selection of a dietary or bill of fare for prisons almshouses, and other public institutions, where the sum which may he expended for food Is limited in advance, it becomes necessary to choose such food-stuffs as will furnish uhe greatest amount of nutriment for the least amount of money It Is in cases where the cost of food must be kept down to a few cents for each meal that the exact comparison of food values becomes most important, and the wastefulness of the ordinary man. ner of living becomes by contrast most apparent.
 Sanitary chemistry establishes all these facts, and in the increasing struggle for existence the Attest who would survive take advantage of them. Exhaustive experiments have shown that certain, varying but definite amounts of nitrogenous substances, of fats and carbohydrates, are required daily for children, for students, and for manual laborers. Chemical analyeis has shown the proportions of these necessary substances in a thousand oF nd thnrafnra the question of economy may be calcu- lated with almost mathematical. pre- cislon With the proper tables al hand, 1t is not more difficult to acquire working knowledge of food values than it is to learn whist or golf, ano any man upon entering a restaurant should be able to make up suitable menu on scientific principles without
 exceeding his allowance.
 in the application of the rules ot | sanitary chemistry, however. it be comes necessary to know whether tht food materials that are offered are o
 standard quality. Pure milk. for ex
 ample, has a certain definite value, bu
 milk diluted with water, colored witt coal tar products, and preserved witt borax or formaldehyde, is quite a diff
 ferent matter. No sooner, therefore
 has the sanitary chemist established dietary laws than he must, in his owr | justification, expose the adulteratiOT and misrepresentation, or ''sjphistica
 tion," as il is called, of the materiali
 which he has recommended. While
 adulterations, as. for example the
 adulteration of milk, may be dangerou: to health and even life itself, and while they may lower the effective value o
 the food, they do not, as the expert
 ments of Mrs. Richards here in Bostor have shown, appear frequently enough
 to impair seriously the public health
 A greater danger Mrs. Richards says lies in certain foods advertised as hay
 ing already been partly digested b!
 some artificial means, and in paten
 preparations which are claimed to hay
 certain food values which in fact the!
 do not possess These foods. beinj
 easily soluble. enter quickly into th
 circulation-producing an effect of ful
 ness and satisfaction, so that nor
 nutritious food is declined as unnec
 essary. The material result is tha
 when the temporary benefit of sucl food wears off young person particu larly becomes faint from lack of req nouriShment, seeks relief in sweets O.
 alcohol, and suffers a correspondinl loss of digestive power.
 . Then. too. there are dangers from th' decomposition of food always to b, guarded against. The craving for fooC out of season results in the use O 7 dangerous conservatives, while tn, |, keeping of fresh food for shipment t
 a distance increases. accarding to Mrs
 Richards. the danger of transmission
 of disease. Constant tests of mill