The Washington times., 1920-05-30


tmeat. biscuits. Jelly, cornstarch, pudding,
oleomargarine, etc. was stirred together
in large, fiat. porcelain dish. The dish
itself was smeared with animal charcoal,
as was the beaker used as drinking
glass. The table was dirty and strewn
with dirty dishes. A little indol was
sprinkled about under the table. The sub.
;ects were kept in ignorance Of the con.
stituents OF the unpalatable mixture"
Indol, It should be explained. has Pc
culiarly offensive and sour smell. 1t is
not the sort Of thing an epicure would
like to think of as the odor Of the meal
he was eating. But It was sprinkled about
to give the subjects Of the experiment that
very idea.
The descent into this culinary sty from
the paradise they had been enjoying was
extremely painful to the subjects. So
painful, in fact, the report gravely re
marks. that one student had to leave the
table in precipitous haste. losing. upon his
way, the food that he had managed to
stun into himself!
The majority of the students however
managed to stick it out for two days. Dur
ing this time the Same tests were taken
as during the seven days Of their happi
ness.
The experimenters report that the
psychic effect was profound!
But, although this was so. imagine their
establishment when they discovered that
the process of digestion had been practi
cally unimpaired! Or. as the report says
1.-The difference in utilization OF the palat
able and unpalatable foods were quite
small. The test indicates that flavor is
not the outstanding dietetic asset that
some people would have us believe II
the stomach and intestines can only be
cajoled into making the proper effort, the
unsavory concoctson can be digested Just
about as satisfactorily as can the food mix
ture which make a stronger appeal.
"If the things we eat have proper food
value we need not worry unduly as to
their digestion, absorption and utilization
by the normal body
This ought TO be good news to millions
Of people," continue the doctors. comfort
ingly. "who eat unpalatable food In untidy
surroundings, in spite OF the fact that one
oI our leduIbB says, "hot
man likes best he digests best This ex-
pertinent simply shows how insulting we
can be to the normal stomach and get
away with II. But II does not necessarily
prove this TO be the wisest policy"
And nothing could summarize the ex
pertinent, perhaps, more plainly than this.
This is not the only common idea that
the specialists at Jefferson College have
exploded In his book. What We Eat and
What Happens to It." recently published
by Harper q Brothers. DR.. Hawk skaters
many widely held notions on eating All
his conclusions are the result OF expert.
ments as carefully carried on, and as pains.
taking as the one just recited.
For instance, many people believe that
II is a bad habit to drink ice water with
meals contending that II chills tho
stomach and delays digestion.
Fortunately. this popular belief has no
basis In fact" writes Professor Hawk in
his interesting volume "It is astounding
how rapidly the temperature within the
stomach approaches that OF the body after
one drinks a glass OF ice water For ex.
ample. u normal resting woman drinks a
glass Of Ice water the temperature within
her stomach becomes approximately
the normal temperature or the body In
twenty minutes II one drinks more than
a single glass OF ice water II will, OF
course. take longer for the stomach TO reg
ulate the temperature hence there will be