Vilas County news. [volume] (Eagle River, Vilas County, Wis.) 1896-1927, 1902-12-29
SO-CALLED "POISON SQUAD
THRIVING BEAUTIFULLY.
GOVERNMENT FOOD
ON
Young Men Lending Their stomachs
to Scheme for the Determination
of Just How Much Fuel is Needed
to Keep the Human Engine
Going.

OF the so-called poison squad" who,
under The direction of DR.. H. w.
Wiley Of the department of agriculture
are lending their stomachs to the gov
eminent in the interests of pure food.
| No rosy-cheeked mattresses, with
snowy-White aprons, serve the board
ers. Instead bespectacled scientist,
with pair of delicately adjusted
scales, weighs out to them so many
grams Of meat, fish, oatmeal or vegeta-
| bles.
| Martyrs to science" some call the
poison squad" but the official gov
ernmeat boarders think they are
mighty lucky to escape the boarding
houses. DR.. Wiley likes good living
himself, and he believes in giving his
squad" the. best the market affords.
He also has some original ideas about
feeding human beings, and the young
men who are being experimental on
declare he would make a success as
the keeper of "a clearinghouse
They are thriving on the treatment.
DR.. Wiley has computed that it re-
quires just enough nitrogen, which, if
| burned, would heat 5000 pounds of
water enc degree, to drive. the human
engine and keep it going for twenty
four hours. With this as a basis every
particle of food is carefully treated
and examined until with the entire
dinner that much nitrogen is fed to
the man.
OF 401 l.
hungry, but DR.. Wiley says: every
body eats entirely too much In addi-
ton to the public good these expert
ments will do, the young men are be-
! ing given an excellent lesson in self
control"
Each of the squad must eat every
thing set before him, because scientif-
ically, it has been demonstrated that
he requires that much nitrogen to
! exist for a day.
; IF any man does not eat all that
! we give to him he is sick and would
be taken out of the squad" declared
DR.. Wiley. "Of course if all the men
should become sick 1 would know i'm
mediate1y it was the food they were
eating
While science may determine just
how much a man may eat and live, it
cannot fix definitely the amount the
members of the poison squad" may
increase the weight One Of the
squad persists in remaining over
weight. DR.. Wiley has all his men
down to what he calls the constant
weight except this one. He is ex-
perimenting on him, and continues
cutting down his allowance until he
can reach a specified weight and re
main at it.
This mans weight fluctates as great
ly as Goes the stock market on a
panicky day, and may result in the
postponement for a few days of the
administration of adulterants. DR..
Wiley wanted to begin feeding his
| boarders boric acid on Monday, but
the irregularity of the one subjects
weight may interfere, although Dr.
Wiley declared he thought he could
get him down to a constant weight"
Weighing for dinner takes The
place Of "last call for the dining car
and each one of the squad strips and
gets on the scales, where his weight
is taken and recorded in a big book.
His temperature is taken, together
with his respiration and pulse.
The meal is then served, the poison
squad dividing to two tables, six at
table. 1t requires six weeks proper
ly to try each adulterant. Half of the
squad" is put for two weeks at the
table called the firing line while the
other six are at what DR.. Wiley calls
the relaxation table. After two
weeks Of feeding on pure food the
"eQuad" is put on adulterated diet,
and after the completion of this period
is returned to a pure food diet. By
this time the other six are trying
adulterated food, and this will con-
tinue until all methods are tried
DR.. Wiley will not administer the
adulterant, which will be boric acid,
in the food He is afraid that some
portion Of it might escape in the cook
ing. Instead he will carefully weigh
out the boric acid and give it to his
boarders in a capsule.
Bullets the poison squad" calls
these capsules.
Immediately after their dinner of
pure food each man will take a cap
sule containing the required quantity
of boric acid. Then the effects will
be carefully watched. If he grows
thin or is tagged out and requires
more food to keep at a constant
weight" the deleterious effects of this
adulterant on the human system will
have been scientifically demonstrated.
Ten Of the most expert analytical
chemists in the governments employ
are constantly at work Analysing
chemical properties for the mess.
Breakfast, luncheon and dinner before
being served are all analysed.
The ordinary breakfast for the
SQUAD" consists usually of oatmeal
and meat. One Of the more fastidious
| ,.Io