bulletins are used frequently. From time to time reading assignments are given in the various periodicals dealing with the different subjects of the

course.

The equipment for the work consists of two laboratories, one in which the chemical and physiological experiments are performed, and another in which the experiments pertaining to food preparation are carried out. Sometimes both laboratories are in use during the same lesson, at other times one laboratory may be used exclusively for a series of several lessons. The diningroom is used for serving the meals, which are prepared for typical families at definite costs.

The subject matter of the course consists of a study of the composition of the various foods, with methods of preserving and preparing these for use. Canning, preserving, pickling, the making of jams, jellies, etc., are considered in order. The composition of the carbohydrates, their characteristics, classification, means of identification, as well as the changes produced during cooking, digestion, and absorption, are studied. Typical dishes from the carbohydrate foods, for example, fruits, vegetables, and cereals, are cooked, applying the principles learned in chemical and physiological study of carbohydrates. The ash constituents, fats, and proteins are studied in the same detail, applications being made in the cookery of eggs, fish, meats, cheese, the making of salads, custards, frozen dishes, etc. Several kinds of baking powders are analyzed; batters and doughs in which baking powder, air, or steam is the leavening agent are prepared, and the proportions of materials used to make breads, cakes, and pastries are worked out. The action of yeast and gasproducing bacteria are studied in connection with bread-making. Some time is devoted to testing for food adulterants. A considerable amount of time is spent on infant feeding. Milk formulæ are prepared according to different methods of modification, and the significance of the different substances found in the excreta of infants is considered in relation to the food intake. Methods of analyzing these substances are studied. Consideration of the dietetic needs of the body at different ages and under different physiological conditions forms a considerable part of the course. Meals are planned in accordance with the different dietetic standards, prepared and served for definite costs.

At the end of the course it has been found sometimes that students who are able to pass creditable written examinations have not acquired sufficient skill in cooking to warrant their being recommended for teaching positions. In order to meet this difficulty, the grade is withheld until the student has satisfied the requirements of the course by passing certain examinations in practical cooking, which are given at the beginning of the fall term following the completion of this course. In this way the student has an opportunity to acquire skill during the summer months.

COURSE IN FOOD AND NUTRITION-UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS.

The following statement is contributed by Prof. Nellie E. Goldthwaite, of the University of Illinois.

In the household science department of the University of Illinois five food courses are offered. These, in order, are as follows: Course 1, Principles of the selection and preparation of food; Course 6, Economic uses of food; Course 14, Special problems in connection with the service of food; Course 5, Dietetics; Course 4, Food and nutrition.

As indicated by this enumeration, the last mentioned, course 4, is the most advanced one of the series, courses 1, 6, and 5, in order, being prerequisite

to it. A few words concerning these prerequisite food courses will serve to make clear the foundations upon which course 4 is built.

In recognition of the fact that an intelligent study of foods rests primarily upon a knowledge of the fundamental facts and principles of several of the natural sciences, the University of Illinois requires some preliminary science training as prerequisite to the beginning of food courses. Accordingly, students to be eligible for course 1, Selection and preparation of food, must have completed one year's work in general chemistry (5 hours) at the university. Course 6, Economic uses of food, is a continuation of course 1. These two courses (3 hours each) constitute one year's work and are fundamental to succeeding courses in foods.

In these courses the student has learned the fundamental processes that underlie the preparation of food. She has gained a knowledge of food principles. She has learned, as stated in the Laboratory Guide (Bevier and Van Meter), "the principles of cooking by the same general methods as those by which the principles of chemistry are taught." The dishes prepared have been chosen because they illustrate principles of cooking. Throughout both these courses the economics of food preparation have been emphasized.

As the study of foods is continued, the preliminary knowledge of science required for entrance to courses 1 and 6 does not suffice; therefore, this knowledge is increased by succeeding courses in pure science, taken either as prerequisite to the more advanced food courses or parallel with them.

Hence, course 5, Dietetics, increases its prerequisite science requirement by a second semester's work in chemistry (5 hours), and by one semester's work in physiology (5 hours), which, in turn, demands as a prerequisite, zoology (5 hours).

The course in dietetics aims to make the student intelligent concerning the food requirements of the normal human body under varying conditions of age and activity; the means by which the subject of human nutrition has been and is being studied; the original sources of information on the subject; the viewpoints and conclusions of various investigators. The student is required to solve many problems, the data for which are taken from the experimental work of these investigators. By laboratory practice the course aims to present in concrete terms the deductions discussed in the classroom; to give the student intelligent ideas concerning the amount and kinds of fuel which she is daily supplying to her own body. This course aims further to give some knowledge concerning the dietetic treatment of diseases and to give some practice in the preparation of invalid dishes.

Course 4, Food and nutrition, the final undergraduate course in foods, succeeds course 5 in the curriculum. To take this course intelligently, further knowledge of science on the part of the student is demanded; hence, course 4 adds to its list of prerequisites the following courses in pure science: Chemistry, quantitative analysis (5 hours); organic chemistry (5 hours); and bacteriology (5 hours), which may be either a prerequisite or a parallel course.

Because of the extent and character of this science basis, course 4 is essentially for seniors or for graduate students. It is a five-hour course, and the instruction is given by means of lectures, laboratory work, reading, recitations, and discussions. Papers dealing with certain topics connected with the course are required of the student at intervals. Ten hours per week are spent in classroom and laboratory.

The laboratory instruction follows the Food and Nutrition Manual prepared by Miss Bevier and Miss Usher, proteins, fats, and carbohydrates being taken up in order.

In studying the proteins, constant reference is made to the classification adopted by the joint committees of the American Physiological and Biochemical Societies. By following this classification the intricate chemistry of the proteins appears in clearer light than is otherwise possible.

Various representatives of the three general classes of proteins, simple, conjugated, and derived, are tested in regard to elementary composition; their solubilities; their color reactions; their precipitation reactions, including salting-out experiments; their behavior on heating to various definite temperatures; their behavior under the combined influence of heat and of food accessories, such as salt, or salt and acetic acid. Typical proteins are subjected to digestion experiments, and the products both of peptic and of pancreatic digestion noted. This study of the proteins is followed by that of the fats. These are studied in regard to their preparation, solubilities, melting points, saponification, including separation of products. The ordinary vegetable and animal fats, including various commercial fat substitutes, are included in this study. Distinctions between the fats proper and the essential oils are drawn. Also the nitrogenizedphosphorized fat, lecithin, is separated from egg yolk and studied; cholesterin likewise.

The carbohydrates are next considered, and the principal divisions are studied in regard to solubilities; Fehling's test; Molish's test; behavior with iodine; behavior on heating; behavior with yeast; formation of osazones; behavior on hydrolysis.

The important types of the monosaccharides, of the disaccharides, and of the polysaccharides are studied. Starches from various vegetable sources are examined under the microscope, and the effect of heat both on the dry and on the moist substances is studied carefully. Glycogen is isolated from oysters and studied. Pectin is studied in fruit juices and its behavior with varying proportions of sugar observed.

In connection with the detailed study of each of the organic food principles, the chemistry of which is especially emphasized, practical applications of the experimental results are constantly discussed from the housekeeper's point of

view.

Following these studies of the food principles, a careful study of each of the following food materials is taken up in order: Milk, meat, wheat flour.

In the study of milk its individual components are carefully separated and examined; tests for preservatives of milk are made; consideration is given to various milk dishes and to the various foods derived from milk.

Meat is studied through the preparation of water extractions and of ammonium chloride extractions, and the subsequent physical and chemical tests to which these extractions are subjected. Careful attention is given to the behavior of these solutions at various definite degrees of heat.

Meats are cooked both by boiling and by roasting, careful note being made both of the outer and inner temperatures at all stages of the processes. The results of these methods of cooking under various conditions are noted; subsequently, water extracts of the cooked meats are made, and these in turn are submitted to physical and chemical examinations. Broths and drippings obtained through these boiling and roasting processes are likewise subjected to examination. Creatine, creatinine, xanthine, and hypoxanthine are isolated and studied.

From all these experiments conclusions regarding the proper cooking of meats and the preparation of meat foods are drawn.

Wheat flour is next taken up. The wheat kernel is studied microscopically. Such physical tests as the following are made on a great variety of flours:

Color tests, cohesion tests, doughing tests, gluten tests, and fermentation tests. The student's knowledge of the simple proteins is increased through a separation of gluten into its components, gliadin and glutenin.

Finally, the bread-making qualities of various flours are tested through the making of breads by both short and long processes, these breads being subsequently rigidly criticized and scored.

Following this detailed laboratory work, each student chooses a short individual problem which she plans, works out in the laboratory, writes up, and summarizes orally at the time of the semester examinations. During the six weeks in which the students are working on their problems, weekly meetings of the class are held in which each student reports upon work so far accomplished, articles read, etc. Meanwhile, each student has opportunity as needed for individual conferences with the class teacher.

Some of the problems attacked by the class this semester are the following: The relative economy of gas ovens.

The economics of chocolate and cocoa beverages.

Aluminum for cooking utensils.

The preparation of carp for the table.

Sugar in gelatin preparations.

The bacterial and acid content of buttermilk and other milk preparations. Comparison of hard and soft flours in soft dough products.

Influence of moisture on the bursting of starch grains.

Comparison of baking powders.

Animal v. vegetable fats in cooking.

Influence of certain carbohydrates on growth.

The nutritive value of condensed and of malted milks.

It has happened in the past that the problem begun in course 4 has been so productive of results that it has been possible to continue the research. eventually working out a master's thesis.

From the foregoing outline of work done in course 4, it will be seen readily that the course seeks to familiarize the student with the physical, chemical. and physiological characteristics of the organic food principles. This is accomplished through a selection from the large body of experiments in “physiological chemistry of those which, in themselves or in their applications, have a more or less direct bearing upon the principles governing the selection and preparation of food."

Further, the course aims, through the search for and study of research articles, to extend the student's acquaintance with original sources of information; and, through the working out of a short but original problem, to test the student's power of independent thought and investigation.

NUTRITION AND DIETETICS- TEACHERS COLLEGE.

Prof. Mary Swartz Rose furnishes the following statement regarding courses in nutrition in Teachers College, Columbia University: Home economics deals with three great fields-food, clothing, and shelter. Good nutrition is indirectly dependent upon clothing and shelter, but is primarily concerned with the food supply. Every course in cooking, marketing, and food sanitation should contribute to knowledge of nutrition; every course in food chemistry, physiology, and bacteriology has a direct bearing on its problems. But a well-balanced program must include a course in which these scattered contributions are coordinated, reinforced and extended along both practical and scientific lines. The better the student's training in science, the more advanced this course may be. If the fundamental laws of cell life

and activity, the chemical constitution and properties of food materials, the physiology of human digestion and metabolism are well understood, and this knowledge is coupled with skill in the selection and preparation of food, the student is ready for training in scientific dietetics, that is, in the science dealing with the practical application of the general laws of nutrition to specific cases.

In Teachers College such a course is offered in the senior year to students who have already completed laboratory courses in biology, food chemistry, biological chemistry, and cooking. It is called Dietetics and includes lectures, recitations, and laboratory practice, but no sharp division is made between the different kinds of work. All go on in the same room, specially designed for the purpose, and accommodating 30 students at a time. Cooking tables of simple design are arranged in one-half of the space, and movable oak tables in the other half. The latter afford space for writing lectures and calculating dietaries, and setting out for inspection or consumption rations prepared at the cooking tables. Equipment is also provided for simple chemical experiments, and plenty of scales for weighing food materials.

Sherman's Chemistry of Food and Nutrition is used as a textbook in connection with the lectures, which deal with food in relation to digestion and metabolism in general, and with the specific problems of feeding in infancy, childhood, adult life, and old age. Emphasis is laid upon the nutrition requirements of the normal individual, pathological conditions being discussed only as they serve to throw light upon the underlying principles of nutrition and emphasize the importance of rational diet in the maintenance of health. Energy values of common food materials are studied on the basis of ordinary household measures and the 100-calorie unit. Practical school luncheons of definite fuel value and cost serve as an introduction to the more complex day's ration, which is made the unit for laboratory practice. Dietaries are prepared for individuals of various ages, and for typical family groups for specified sums of money. Rose's Laboratory Handbook for Dietetics provides detailed information in regard to the problems of dietary calculation and data upon food composition in convenient form. The aim throughout the course is to develop a scientific attitude toward the feeding problem, to impress the importance of accurate knowledge as a basis for sound judgment, and to give facility in selecting foodstuffs suitable in kind and amount to any given case without undue labor or expense.

Students interested in the problem of feeding large groups are offered, in addition to this course, one in dietary administration, in which dietaries for institutions of various kinds are studied, along with the practical problems of household organization, large quantity marketing, and business procedure.

For undergraduates who have not the scientific preparation for as technical a course as dietetics two others are given; one, called "elementary food economics," having no science prerequisites; the other, called "food and nutrition," requiring for admission a thorough course in general chemistry, or a shorter course in general chemistry and food chemistry. Both courses consist of lectures with laboratory work. Elementary food economics requires only half the time of the other courses and presents very simply and broadly the nutritive requirements of the body. In the laboratory, dietaries for individuals of different requirements are the main feature, with special emphasis on economic phases of the subject, the purpose being to guide the housewife, nurse, or elementary teacher to a very practical knowledge of the fundamentals of good feeding.

The food and nutrition course is intermediate in character between dietetics and elementary food economics. More time is allotted to the study of digestion than in any of the other courses, artificial digestion experiments, with prepa