The Billings gazette. [volume] (Billings, Mont.) 1896-1919, 1902-12-26
UNIQUE TEST OF FOOD
Young Men to Eat Embalmed
Provender For a Year.
EFFECT TO BE CAREFULLY NOTED

Twelve Eager G~overnmen Clerks
Have Agreed to Take Nothing Into
Their stomachs Not Prepared and
Served Under the Supervision of
Professor Wiley of the Agricultural
Department.
Twelve heroic government clerks
under the charge of Professor W. II.
Wiley, chief of the bureau of chemis-
try of -the agricultural department,
have agreed to become guests of the
agricultural department in a unique
experiment of testing preserved foods.
Professor Wiley has many amusing
experiences in arranging for this prac-
teal test of foods, says a Washington
dispatch to the Philadelphia Press.
AS is well known, the purpose is to as
certain whether boric acid and other
food pr%eservatives are injurious to the
health.
When it was first announced that
volunteers were wanted to eat Of foods
treated by these preservatives, applica-
lions came from all quarters of the
country ana from all classes of peo-
pie. There were quite a number from
the genuine hobo class and at least
one volunteer came from the ranks Of
would be suicides. He said he might
as well commit suicide eating EN-
balmed foods as any other way. Pro-
fessor Wiley did not accept the serv-
;noo ~ o,,%c;1oro HIT coo,vol %1,-olr,
lusty young men employed in the de-
partments at Washington, who On
scented to make the experiments and
follow rigidly the diet prescribed in Or
der to assist in the scientific investi-
cations.
DR.. Wiley said recently that it would
require considerable time to obtain any
results from the experiments. The
candidates for the government board
ing house will have to undergo several
days Of rigid dieting before they begin
on their new menu. The twelve clerks
will eat food treated with various chem
icals to prove whether o. not borax
and formaldehyde are injurious, and
a cook appointed under the civil serv-
ice will preside over their destinies in
specially prepared kitchens and dining
rooms in the basement of the agricul-
tural building.
The experiments will continue for
than a year. During this time
the department employees who have
offered to immediate themselves on the
dining room tables of their country will
have their appetites appeased free of
charge and will satisfy their hunger
with all the delicacies of the season.
more or less improved by applications
of SO called 'embalming" mixtures.
1t was to find out whether the prepare
tons used fer the preservation Of meats
and vegetables are harmful or beneficial
to the human system that congress last
session passed the act calling upon
the agricultural department experts
to conduct d practical demonstration.
Professor Wiley has perfected all plans,
the young clerks are ready, and if they
survive the experiments they will de-
eide the controversy one way or the
other to the complete satisfaction Of
Germanyand other European countries
which have Disseminated against
American meats exported in a cured
state. Every care will be taken of
them during the course Of the expert
ments. They will be nursed like ba-
bies, tenderly watched and their every
symptom noted with precision in the
big book which will eventually yield
the answer to the problem.
The lot of the heroic young govern
ment clerks will not be a very delight
full one. Each individual has pledged
himself to abstain entirely from food
or drink not prepared by the scientists
in charge of the dining rooms. Every
morsel of solid or liquid matter which
passes their lips from the time they
begin til" test must be eaten in the
government boarding house under the
eyes of scientific chefs and walters.
Should they become hungry between
meals they must wait until the official
dinner bell rings. If they grow thirsty
during working hours. they may watch
the water cooler with longing eyes.
but nothing more. To eat or drink at
such i%nopportune times would upset
the whole course of experiments and
make it necessary for the work to he
done over. @.
The young men will have to face
other difficulties. Before each meal
for a year at least every government
boarder must be stripped and weighed
and his physical condition carefully
noted.
The twelve young men selected are
employed principally in the scientific
branch of the agricultural department.
They are students interested in chem
ical research and entered into the prof,
ect with considerable enthusiasm. es-
p%ecially when it was explained to them
that their board would be presented to
them by Uncle Sam as a reward for
their services.
Six of the young boarders will be fed
with pure foods. untreated meats