Custer County Republican. (Broken Bow, Neb.) 1882-1921, 1907-05-02
WILL EAT SALTPETER
UNIVERSITY STUDENTS TO SET.
TIE MooTED QUESTIONS.
Years Experiments In Interest OF
Beet.Eating Pubie--one.Halt to
Be Fed on Meat Cured
with Solution.

New York.-For a period OF from
six to twelve months a squad of Wig
orous and healthy men will be the
subjects upon whom small company
of savants. working in the interests
OF humanity in general and becf-eat-
ers in particular, will test the effects
of meat that has been cured with
saltpeter and other supposedly injuri'
Gus personalities.
This was settled the other day,
when what will be known as the ma.
tional commission for the investiga-
ton of nutrition problems was formed
in New York at the Fifth Avenue ho-
tel
This organization will act under the
auspices of the University of Illinois
and it is composed of Prof. II, S.
Grindley of that institution, Prof, II.
II. Chttenden of Yale university,
Prof. j. ]. Abel of Johns Hopkins uni
verslty and Prof A. p. Mathews of
Chicago university.
The movement was inaugurated by
Prof. Edmund J. James of the Univer.
sity of Illinois, who will also take an
active part in its progress. The ex-
periments will be carried on at the
University of Illinois. and it is said
that they will be the most thorough
of the kind ever undertaken in the
United States,
There has been great difference Of
opinion among experts" said Prof.
Grindley, "as to the effect of certain
personalities used in the curing of
meat and the commission will direct
its attention first TO the determination
of some of these important questions.
The first experiments will be to dis
cover the effects upon the human
body of the saltpeter used in curing
meats.
ut is a well-known fact that salt
peter taken in considerable quantities
is poison, but whether the small
amount consumed by the eating Of
cured meats is in any way injurious
has long been a mooted question.
The data obtained will be or prime
Importance in aiding the enforcement
of the present pure food laws and of
the utmost importance in aiding in
the formulation of further just regu
lations as to the use of this and other
personalities in food products
The "saltpeter squad" as it might
be called, will be boarded in a special
ly equipped house in such way that
the weight of all foods eaten by each
man can be accurately determined
and the food completely analysed A
| physician will keep a daily record of
the physical condition and health of
each member Of the squad.
The diet Of half the men will in.
clude cured meat products now on the
market containing saltpeter and the
other half will be fed on a diet exact
ly similar except that the cured meats
will contain none of the preserva-
tives.
Another interesting feature of the
experiments will be that efforts will
be made to have the men housed
pleasantly and their meals so pre-
scented to them as to eliminate if pos
sible the influence of the mental con
dition Of the squad on the processes
of digestion and nutrition.
1t is the purpose of the commits.
| sion also to make experiments of a
similar kind upon the lower animals,
so that at the end of the work the an
imals may be killed and a thorough
examination made by the most ap.
proved methods to determine the eff.
feet of the saltpeter upon the internal
organs connected with the processes
of digestion and assimilation.