Honolulu star-bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1912-2010, 1913-07-03
NAN A MACHINE,
NEEDS CAREFUL
LUBRICATION

| WASHINGTON Man Is Just ma
chine. If you do not believe Il. ask
fthe Federal Department OF Nutritfve
EInyentigation. part Of the Bureau OF
Chemistry Dr. c. +, Langworthys who
is chief of the department, viii tell
you, and give facts and figures to
prove II, that your anatomy is Just Ike
any other engine. You have a maxi
mum capacity OF so-nany foot-pounds
of energy, and TO generate this q car.
tain amount OF fuel Is necessary. The
best kind of food or fuel to be used
varies with the individual engine, and
DR.. Langworthy told how his depart
ment does its work.
He described his unique department
in his workshop. surrounded by an
endless series of laboratory instru-
mehts, ovens, graduated scales, and
queer tubes and pipes where every
| thing under the sun is concocted and
| cooked up, to see how many calories.
how much nitrogen and how much
energy it will give the human body
/ Nn0u IL 8 eaten.
In the laboratory Is respiration
calorimeter, chamber in which I'm
Gle Sans scientists put subjects to
measure the energy which the sub
| iect gives on while he is engased in
different tasks, and while fed differ
cnt diets of food. When the Bureau
of Chemistry sharps decide that it
.fIi tS - -, - :, kiS,v,a1 fTypf,S.t ~
know just the modicum of energy that
ia diet OF stewed beef, bread. beans
and radishes generate. While man
is using his muscles they feed their
subject, put him in the calorimeter,
set him to work pedallfng something
that looks like a bicycle, and then.
stand around and watch the dials and
thermometers incidentally to discoy-
er the amount of energy on the same
diet that man engaged in hard men.
tai work gives off, they get q subject
who has particularly brainspuzzfng
task to perform and watch him. The
last subject was a college student who
had to pass a very rigid examination.
He spent a couple of days in the
calorimeter, alternately studying and
resting. When he rested, ne lay upon
a cohch at ease and read. II. he wanted
Ito. or just dozed. At all times the
scientists watched the little thermom-
eters, taking copious notes.
The calorimeter Is valuable an
strument In many ways. It enables
the Government to recommend GER
tain diets as being of the greatest
use to men and women In different
occupations, and it enables them to
recommend a combination Of foods
that are cheap but at the same time
|sustaining.
\ The apparatus itself Is six and a
|shalf feet square. and of the same.
height There Is a window In the
side to permit light for reading or
studying, a couch to permit the sub
ject to lie down. a pipe through
which air enters and another through
which il is expelled. The expelled
air is caught and its compliments an
alyzed, for part of the food you eat is
expelled with every breath
/ The heat given OFF by the subjects
body Is weighed and measured, and
then carried off through a brass pipe
that has current of cold water run
ming through it The heat absorbing
power ofthe pipe is enhanced by a Sc!
ries of copper disks that are sohered
to it. The method Is merely the re-
verse of that practiced in bringing
heat into a room by the hot water
method. In one, the cold water car
.rfed it away; in the other the hot wa
ter brings it in.
The exact amount of heat expelled
from the subjects body is measured |
by the flow of cold water, one caloriei
of heat being necessary to raise one |
kilogfam Of water one degree cent? |
grade.
Important discoveries have. been
made through the respiration calori-
meter" said Dr. Iangworthy today. |
ut has been determined, definitely |
just how much food is needed to sup
ply the normal body with energy |
enough to permit of great mental and |
physical labor. To every one calorie |
of heat given off by the body it is |
necessary to eat five calories of food. |
Mental work, it has been discovered, |
results in as much loss of muscular |
energy as muscular work itself.
Experiments are now being con- |
Quoted to determine just what agri- |
cultural products or combination of |
agricultural products produce the
most energy and heat in the human
body. The fact that cheese is an ex-
cellent foodstuff for all purposes of |
building up the body instead Of a |
mere eondiment was discovered by |
the .calorimeter.
I'm conducting the experiments
the subject is treated as if he was al
steam engine. needing the best kind
of fuel The food given him Is
treated as fuel and the amount of en-
eTgy which he derives from it and I
the waste Is all carefully measured.
A percentage table of the fuel which |
radiates the most combustion is
made. and the percentage of the
mans efficiency. guided by a standard
of 100, is compiled.
"A small portion of the food eaten
is utilized by the body for building
and repairing tissues and the per-
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