V
VOL. XLI
PORTLAND, OREGON, SUNDAY MORNING, - DECEMBER 17, 1922
NO. 52
f
Dr , J Maguire of Warren
0 . who showed how littl
a mart needs when he lived
a week on SO cents a do
' gained weight.
lOUND! A. perfect stomach!
It never aches; it has no hunger
pangs; raange of climate doesn't
affect it. It's Just a perfect stomach
tut It's made of glass.
About it, every day, where it stands in
the organic laboratory of the bureau of
chemistry of the department of agricul
ture, Washington, D. C, are grouped
many experts. They feed it apple pie,
potatoes juicy steaks; even give it a
drink at times Then they watch the
process of digestion through its glass
walls.
When the food has been digested they
do Just what bvery dyspeptic would do
with his own stomach if it were possibla
they take it apart, clean it thoroughly
and then they feed it some more.
According to Dr Breeze Jones, head of
the laboratory, and Dr. Henry Waterman,
his assistant, the Importance to human
l:fe and longevity of this .atest triumph
of science cannot be too greatly stressed.
For through it science expects to discover
new secrets of the mysterious process of
building new tissue and new ways of
prolonging life.
, Under the long-employed experimental
1 III' id'JirfCvc V , . 'lki . I V.vv :5vV " " "U-br - Q2
1 ' T''i-YUV' -4f-"i .' " ni-T. w I - i x
& ' JJSi 5 ? 4..jiwwiii "' uss9aa
food : I H ! 1
: MSm .I'i'ir' 1 'till r -''?Tu
' i Mmhl n4 PPfeSkt: hrT quantity of food than any mechanical
I fel S f . I I f ' . ' -.- -.- ,
How the Chemists at Washington Have
Now Invented a Way to Watch What
Goes on When a Dinner
Is Digested,
F
The digestive effect is measured by th
ratio of what is known as amino nitro
gen to total nitrogen.
After the food has been acted upon by
the hydrochloric acid it is then treated
be; trypsin and a dilute alkaline solution
chemically similar to the digestive juices
found in the intestinal tract. This in
forms the observer just what happen? to
food in the digestive process alter it
leaves the human stomach.
One of the things that the glass stom
ach is expected to determine is the rela
tive nutritive values of certain foods
cooked and uncooked. Take cabbage, for
instance. Many stomach specialists as
sert that the only way to eat it is raw;
that when cooked it causes indigestion.
Yet the practical physician jointji to the
healthy man who eats "his "cornbeef and"
and never minds the fact that It is cooked
and cooked well.
But there la one man, at least, in the
Imited States to whom the news of the
perfection of the glass stomach gave
great satisfaction. He isn't a scientist,
unless of the domestic order. He isn't
interested in the scientific results of the
machine except in one particular. That
particular is appie pie.
Newton H. Whitis of Continental, O '
system en nutuan subjects it was impos
sible to arrive at a perfect conclusion.
Women, because they smoke less and
drink less and nave fewer of the so-called
' pernicious" habits which ' contaminate
the human system with foreign matter.
Invariably were the experimental sub
jects. But feminine imagination often
offered a stumoling-block by eliciting re
ports of "symptoms" that never existed.
Now the glass stomach seems to be the
end-all of science's experimental trou
bles. The food ta be tested is dropped
into the stomach into which a dilute so
lution of hydrochloric acid of the strength
found in the average human stomach has
already been introduced.. Pepsin, which
is manufactured by nature for digestive
purposes, is also included. Then an elec
tric heater is started beneath the stom
ach "bag" and by the aid of thermostatic
appliances a constant temperature of 37
degrees centigrade is maintained. Then
the eye of the scientist watches and notgs
just what happens to. the food inserted.
is the man. Ha sees m the glass stomach
a means of proving the value of his
strange recipe for marital happiness. He
expects the latest scientific wonder to
corroborate what he says about apple
pie. His observations on this old-fashioned
and popular pastry are as follows:
"If the young housewife would cut her
apple pie differently there would be less
marital unhappiness. She should do it
as her grandmother did it. , She should
cut it across twice, making four -pieces
to a pie, not six, as the young idea does
now. Avnen a man wants a piece he wants
f piece, not a sample. And apple pie is
the finest thin? that a wife can place
before her husband."
Mr. Whitis spoke from the fulness of
the knowledge of 60 years. His mar
ried life has been very happy he says."
His wife is the old-fashioned sort of cook.
His argument 'E so interesting as to de
mand chemical analysis,- In "Diet and
Health," written by Lulu Hunt Peters,
woman dietitian, and physician of jLos
Angeles, apple pie is revealed as' just
what the practical Mr. Whitis says it is
the most important part of the meal. She
shows that apple pie contains 350 cal
ories of energy. Beef, pork, lamb or mut
ton, fish, eggs and milk contain 100 cal
ories each; And the piece of apple pie
cut into one-sixth contains that 'amount
of calories! Following Mr. Whitis" re
cipe the pie would contain 520 calories.
Only 3000 calories a day is needed by the
average business man. Therefore, if he
ate two pieces of the pie he would be get
ting more than one-third of the full day's
needs in calories. It Is worth observing
that the healthy Herbert Hoover eats ap
ple pie. Also, that the book containing
this secret about apple pie is dedicated
to Mr. Hoover. - .
- If the glass stomach at Washington
does nothing else than determine what
is a perfectly balanced diet it may pro
long life to the 200 th year,; according to
the theory . of Alfred W. Lawson. Mr.
Lawson, who is known in the world of
'Ahoat the glass stomachy every
day are grouped experts. They
feed it apple pie, potatoes, nice .
ocy steaks, even give it a drink
at times '
aeronautics as the man who built and
navigated from Milwaukee to New York,
'a 26-passenger air machine, hs turned
Lis attention to the prolongation of life.
He declares that long life can be obtained
through a perfect balance between food,
sleep and exercise. Each man should
understand the operation of his own sys
tem just as an engineer his engine or a
good horseman his horse.' Enough exer
cise and enough sleep should be had to
digest the amount of food the dajt's ac
tivities demand If the glass stomach at
Washington determines what a perfect
balance is, it will be the scientific instru
ment through which-Methuselah's record
may yet be approached or passed.
This balanced living is practiced by the
world's champion eater, Tobias Jason of
Pecos, Tex. Mr Jason lays claim to the
heavyweight title and is willing to meet
all comers. Recently, on board the
steamship President Harding, he amazed
the other passengers and wearied the
cooks and waiters by the demands of
his appetite. His breakfast included sliced
pineapples, oranges, bananas, fresh straw
berries, cereals, eggs,, chops, potatoes,
coffee rolls and toast topped off by two
extra portions of eggs. " His dinner con
sisted of well, he just went through the
bill-o'-fare three times from soup to nuts.
But he always exercises and sleeps prop
erly and that accounts for his good
health.
The proper food is cheap enough, too,
. according to results of dietary experi
ments which are undertaken. at regular,
intervals- by college girls; scientists, and
.' even those disputing over the high cost
of food. They have offered pretty good
evidence that 50 cents a day can feed a
healthy man or girl.
College students should make dietary
tests, according , to Director Francis G.
Benedict of thj Nutrition laboratory . of
Carnegie institution in Washington,
D. C, who says that steers take better
care of their stomachs than students.
Steers which had been half-fed during
winter months released to pasture in the
spring suffered no ill effects from gour
mandizing, but college students starving
themselves for a test got colic from over
eating when they returned to regulation
fare, says Director Benedict.
Six girls of the Pennsylvania State col
lege lived for several weeks at an actual
cost of 47.1 cents a day. They cooked
their own food and purchased everything
as cheaply as possible. But Dr. E. J.
Maguire of Warren, O., went a week on
50 cents-a day, living on meals purchased
at a restaurant. He actually gained one
ounce during the week and thereby won
a wager he made with Drs. C. A. Sted
man and "A. A. Hallock.
Here is the menu Dr. Maguire ate for
a week at a total cost of only $3.50:
Monday Breakfast, rolls and coffee,
10 cents. Lunch, vegetable soup, brown
tread and butter, 15 cents. Dinner, two
poached eggs, fried potatoes, brown bread
and butter, 25 cents.
Tuesday Breakfast, toast and coffee,
10 cents. Lunch, roast beef (small),
boiled potatoes, brown gravy, bread and
butter, 25 cents. Dinner, vegetable soup
and crackers, brown bread and butter,
15 cents. .
- Wednesday Breakfast, buttered toast,
10 cents. Lunch, vegetable soup, brown
bread and butter, 15 cents. Dinner, two
poached eggs, graham bread and butter,
glass of milk, 25 cents. .
Thursday Breakfast, oatmeal and
milk, 10 cents. Lunch, vegetable soup,
rye bread and butter, 15 cents. Dinner,
two poached eggs, potatoes, brown bread
and butter, coffee, 25 cents.
Friday Breakfast, buttered toast, 10
cents. Lunch, one egg, cucumbers, bread
and butter and milk, 15 cents. Dinner,
two fried eggs, potatoes, graham bread
and, butter, coffee, 25 cents.
Saturday Breakfast, oatmeal and
milk, 10 tents. Lunch, vegetable soup,
brown bread, batter and milk, 15 cents.
Dinner, two poached eggs, potatoes, gra
ham bread, butter, coffse, 25 cents.
Sunday Breakfast, cantaloupe, 10
cents. Lunch, hot egg sandwich and
milk, 15 cents. Dinner, small roast beet,
brown bread and butter, potatoes and
coffee, 25 cents.
Botulinus Toxin Deadliest of All
Known Poisons.
Inrinttexlmnl Potion Wonld Kill
People of Earth.
All
POISON so powerful that all the people
on earth could be killed by one-millionth
of half an ordinary thimble full,
Drs. Jaques Bronfenbrenner and M. J.
Schlesinger of Harvard university have
found that the strength of the botulinus
toxin, which occurs in spoiled vege
table food, is so great that the aver
age man would die from a dose of
0.00000000000000001 cubic centimeter
of it. . ,
As there are 473 cubic centimeters In
a pint, only an infinitesmal amonnt
would be required to swamp the immigra
tion authorities in heaven. , One cubic
centimeter would be enough to depopu
late the whole earth with 999,999 parts
left over.
Botulinus . poisoning was first known
as "sausage" poisoning and was detected
after fatalities resulting from eating sau
sage, meats and fish. Recently this poi
soning has been more common after the
eating of decayed vegetable foods. It is
caused by the germ bacillus botulinus
and, unlike the toxin of diphtheria or
lockjaw, it is deadly poisonous wuen in
troduced into the body by way of the
mouth. '
Contamination of foodstuff producing
this poison is not common, and should
such poisoning be present it is usually
' readily" detected by the putrid odor of the
food. If the poisoned food Is. boiled, it
ceases to be harmful, while even when
the poison is actually consumed, nature
and an antitoxin may -protect, the Indi