New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1907-02-11
9 POISON SQUAD" DIET.
DR.. Wiley GiUes Some Results of
HIS Experiments.
From The Tribune nursau.l

Washington FED 1O-"Each man every day eats
in dry food l per cent OF his weight, and It re-
quires just 100 days to eat his own head Off" ac-
cording to DR., Harvey w Wiley chief of the Blu
OF Chemistry. who has been testifying before
the House Committee Expenditures IN the Agri-
cultural Department in regard to the results Of eX-
periments his poison squad"
In his testimony the physical effects of foods
DR.. Wiley said that IF you take the water
out Of your food and just the dry matter you
eat. If you weigh 100 pounds you will find that you
eat one and a half pounds of dry matter in your
food every day. If man eats less he will lose in
weight, and if he eats more he ought to gain in
weight The weight of the food is about four and
one-half pounds for liquids and solids every day.
The per cent is about the maximum amount that
q properly digest and utilize in his system
For who is doing the ordinary work OF a
government clerk that amount is about the aver
age"
DR.. Wiley said he had made an investiga-
ton to determine the best foods for mental labor
but he regarded the general belief that particular
kinds of food nourish particular parts of the body
erroneous. 1T is simply question OF general
nutrition" said he. Nerve and brain foods arc
advertised, but they all nonsense. Nor do
drugs have q fattening effect, and the contrary
most OF them have degrading effect Arsenic. UP
to certain point has a fattening effect; man
gains in weight for a time and then dies; but that
is poison
What erect do these drugs tend to producer"
DR.. Wiley asked
Il do not think he replied. that they produce
any specific effect except they may weaken an
organ and make it susceptible For instance. SO
per cent of the borax my boys ate affected their
kidneys. Put that burden the kidneys, and in
few years will have Bright's disease or dia-
betes. Benzoate OF soda is converted into hppuric
acid which is severe poison. y man may drink a
glass of typhoid germs II he is in vigorous health
and may get typhoid fever. because his system
may throw off tho poison but If he is broken down.
one OF the will get hold Of his intestines md
produce liberation and typhoid. Not man but
has pneumonia germ In his mouth It will not
affect the healthy being. but let man get cold
and it Will take it's seat in his lungs"
What do you consider the best food for man
to eat?' asked.
Il think a man ought to choose his ration"
replied DR.. Wiley Lots Of people vegetariars.
I think We too much meat for health. l have
voluntarily cut down my meat 20 one meal day,
and 1 do not eat very much at that. For the sus-
tenance OF physical exertion, II you have hard
work to do there Is nothing better than starch or
physicaI toll than the meat eating nations That is
not the accepted view, but it is true. You cannot
seh a the Close Of the 6SV m when he started
You could not do that on pound Of meat to save
There IS much NOR? energy, for exertion in
much starch in proportion you staTye the muscles
which man naturally chooses is one part OF pro-
IS the best ration for man He gets his protene in
the wheat beans peas and meat, his fat in butter
sugar, lean meat ana butter. do not think any
Of them tends TO produce disease, except when long
EFFECTS OBJ PERSONALITIES.
DR. Wiley then went on to tell the committee OF
his boys" az he calls hls poison squad" This
is the nth year" he said that have been
testing the effect upon health ana digestion Of
pressrvatives coors and other substances that
have been commonly used in foods. To do
we engage tho services OF young men, who agree
to eat the foods with these added substances They
are told exactly what they may and not ex-
Strictly the rules ss ana P9isi na' ''y WI" OBEY
those use our o IN 1s @ m nd hand sTa
enough: and then we get young men from other
taking pledge that they VIII stay with US for
that time They are young men whose characters
ns 9 oaS ss get ooa R fs aaa thsS a2 sqa
it, TOO because they not only have TO eat What we
give them. which is weighed out TO them: but they
They agree not 70 eat any moro than we give
them, 40 matter how hungry they may be. They
SELF. and take charge OF their medical treatment.
The young men are FIRST allowed 10 eat whole
some i0od We buy the best In the market. 1t Is
carefully inspected BY myself and analysed. They
the ration so that they DO not either gain or lose
in weight. Then we add a small Quantity Of one
or the conservatives like borsx. adding half
days Then we increase IT a grain and they
Nothing, is wasted If they trim their finger
nails they have bring tho trimmings to US or II
]
can keep track OF the income and outgo lust as
you Keep bank account In that way
determine whether these things disturb the natural
We keep That up until make them I'll: until
we produce some effect. disturbance OF some
I kind Then We put them on the old ration and
observe that for ten fifteen days. until they are
restored 10 their normal condition This requires
an enormous amount OF analytical work and VET
il IS the only way in which these great questions
can be answered. You can theorize about It az
much as you like, but the facts be ascer-
is one Of the things we have to b 5sS oa aPpe5s
also lasstude. though we have better diet than
that OF any OF the first class boarding houses
One OF the interesting things found was the
effect Of fumes OF burning sulphur commonly
used In the preservation OF foods. We examined
microscopically the blood Of each OF our young
men We counted the blood corpuscles white and
red. and the amount OF coorng matter. and we
found that the moment they began TO take sui
phurous acid their blood Corpusces began to fade
and become. diminished IN number, the oxygen
carving canacitN blond lint !,