The Washington bee., 1907-04-27
WILL EAT SALTPETER
UNIVERSITY STUDENTS TO SET
TIE MOOTED QUESTIONS.
Years Experiments in Interest OF
6eef-Eating PubIic-One-Haif to
Be Fed on Meat Cured
with Solution.

New York-For a period Of from
six to twelve months 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 beef-eat-
ers in particular, will test the effects
OF meat that has been cured with
saltpeter and other supposedly inJuTi-
Gus preservatives.
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. H. S.
Grindley of that institution, Prof r.
H Chittenden of Yale university,
Prof. j. j. Abel of Johns Hopkins uni
versity and Prof A. P. Mathews of
Chicago university.
The movement was inauguTated 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 VIII be the most thorough
of the kind ever undertaken in the
United States.
There has been great difference of
,rgafcs col
Grindley. as TO the effect of certain
preservatives 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 he to dis
cover the effects upon the human
body of the saltpeter used in curing
meats.
1T is a well-knOwn fact that salt
peter taken in considerable quantities
is a poison. but whether the small
amount consumes by the eating of
cured meats is in any way injurious
has long been a mOoted question.
The data obtained will be of 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 Tegu-
lations as to the use of this and other
preservatives in food products"
The "saltpeter squad" as it might
/ be called, will be boarded in a special
ly equipped house in such a way that
A., lF Axy oh
man can be accurately determined
and the food completely analyzed. 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-
sented 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.