The times., 1901-03-24
CHEMISTRYANDLO LONGEVITY
How Youth May Be Prolonged for
Half Il Century or More.
Food Products which Not Only Sus-
tain Life But Prepare the Body of
Mankind for various Pursuits-No
Longer Necessary to Grow Old.

In this selfish age it is refreshing to
know that there are people working every
day to discover a way to prolong human
life and to fill the cup of human JOY to
the brim and keep it filed until man has
reached the limit of his vital capacity for
living, and dies fun of years of happiness.
This the Division of Chemistry of the
Department of Agriculture is endeavoring
to do. 1t seeks to discover such food
products as will not only sustain life. but
prepare the body for the demands made
upon 1t by the various occupations and
pursuits in which mankind is or may be
enga ged. 1t is, the chemists believe, self
evident that with pure food and a
tional observance of the laws of hygiene
and sanitary measures, the life of the
human being would be prolonged to a
considerable extent until centenarians
who now arouse our notice when they are
discovered will be so common as to war
rant no remark.
a Times reporter recently visited DR..
II. w. Wiley, Chief of the Division of
Chemistry of the Agricultural Depart
ment, and also president of The Hun
dred Year Club an organization for the
study of longevity. When asked to
give his views as to means for prolonging
human life, DR.. Wiley said:
Among the forces that are most effec-
tive in developing individuals and
tions, find that those which are most
frequently discussed are education and
religion. 1t is evident, without argument,
however, that back OF this there is
other force which demands our first con
sderation, namely nutrition. We are all
aware of the intimate relations which
food bears to growth and development.
| These relations are well understood by
raisers of farm animals. The science of
feeding the animals of the farm has been
so improved within the past fifty years as
to be almost exact. Different types of
animals are developed for different pur-
poses almost solely by variations of food.
one of the most striking instances OF this
kind is the development of the dairy
COW. For example in the dairy COW like
the Jersey. the object which is kept in
view from the earliest moment is feeding
SO to produce an animal which will
give fat in its milk without having fat
upon its body one of the most success
full breeders Of Jersey cattle in the
| United States said that a Jersey calf
could be utterly ruined for making
a superior Jersey milking COW during the
first six months of its life. If during that
time it was permitted to eat all it posi-
bly, could it would form the habit of fat
|
ever becoming a typical milking cow.
Animals are fed also for working pur-
poses as we'll as for fat and milk pro-
duction. Chickens are fed to lay eggs
and 10 make broilers; horses are fed to
| drag heavy burdens and to run races,
and sheep are fed on the one hand to pro-
duce wool and on the other to produce
mutton.
MAN 4 NEGLECTED ANIMAL
''Of all the valuable animals, the feed
ing of man alone seems to have been neg
lected. 1t is evident, in order to secure
success in any profession in life, that not
only should the child inherit from his pa
rents natural abilities and aptitudes for
his profession, but should, from the time
| of infancy. be subjected TO a regimen of
! food exercise, and culture suited TO the
profession which he is TO follow.
The history of nations has shown that
| those which have been best fed have
been. upon the whole the strongest and
most speedily developed. To appreciate
this it is only necessary to compare those
| nations that have been well fed for cen
tures with those that have always had
inferior or deficient nutrition. Among the
older well-fed nations, England stands pre-
eminent. There is much. doubtless, in
blood and heredity. People are at birth
| what their ancestors have made them,
but food acting through thousands and
| thousands OF years, made their ancestors
|
| much as conquest, has sent England
ships to all nations and quarters of the
world to gather in corn as well as coin.
| Not only in commerce does food play
! an important part, but also in war. In
the light of recent developments, 1t is
seen that beef was more important fac
tor in our late war with Spain than bull
lets. The study of foods in their relation
to national and individual development Is
intimately associated with the study OF
longevity 1t requires no argument to
ch hny "a Kind nf which
suited TO the full development of all the
powers of the individual. and thus to all
the powers of the nation, is also the KIND
which can prOlOng life.
1T is a well-knOwh principle In epdem-
les and In contagious diseases that they
| spread most rapidly and do their most
deadly work among those portions OF
| the community which are poorly nour-
ished. When an epidemic or a conta-
| giOus disease attacks community which
| Is well nouriShed ii finds individuals IN
whose system the germs of disease do
| not readily find a lodgment. and If
| Iodgment is found the battle which these
| disease germs wage with the vital forces
usually ends with the victory of the
! latter. Therefore first of all, good nutrl-
| tiOn is requisite to secure a nation from
dangers Of epidemic and contagious dis
IMPORTANCE OF CHEMISTRY.
"Ot all the sciences which have TO do
with the subject OF food chemistry is
by far the most important. In the first
place the nature of food is only revealed
! by chemical studies Through these stud
| les il has been established that all human
foods may be divided into three or four
! great classes We have first OF all those
nutrients which contain nitrogen as
| their essential ellen At. This class of
foods is commonly Agn as proteids. al
| luminous or nitro; ous foods BELONG
| ing to this class some Of the most
| important nutrient ich sustain the life
of the animal vegetable king
| dom we may no gluten OF wheat
| the Zein of corn hOrdeln OF par
| ley and in gene 1ltrOSenOuS pfln-
, | ciples of cereal long the animal
| foods we know le flesh is composed
| almost entirely ntrogenouS principles.
Eggs are nitrogenous food. We ind that
in the most highly organized tissues OF
| the body the heterogeneous element Is al
ways present in large quantities There
fore the foods which will maintain and
build up such tissue must be nitTogenous.
Such foods must take first rank
THE second class of foods may be de
fined as those which include the starches
and sugars. From a chemical point or
view these foods are called carbohydrates.
and are just as essential TO the body,
! uOurishment as the prOtCidS. AT the pres
! ent time we have not so much TO do with
the chemical nature iof the substances as
We have with the study OF thelr relation
to the nourishment Of the BODY. We ma
that while the nitrogenOuS FOODS are elab-
GRATED largely into the tissues OF the
body, starcheS and sugars or carbOhy-
drates, in general. are not round TO any
/ very great extent in animal bodies. IN
fact, in IA state of health sugar IS not
found in the body or in its secr"tlohS' eX-
Cept IL may be in the allmentary canal
! In other words In the process OF dlges-
tion the carbohydrate is entirely broken
up, and II found at all IN the body Is
l found in shapes entirely dtffrrent from
! that in which il originally existed. IL Is
ore hqt