COPYRIGHT BY THE COLUMBIA HISTORICAL SOCIETY 1917 PRESS OF LANCASTER. PA 37 TABLE OF CONTENTS. Food and Efficiency. Harvey W. Wiley Matthew Gault Emery, the Last Mayor of Washington, 1870-1871. William Van Zandt Cox.. matician, Plea for Universal Peace. P. Lee Phillips. 114 Memoirs of Benjamin Stoddert, First Secretary of the United States Navy. Mrs. Harriot Stoddert Turner. 141 Walter Lenox, the Thirteenth Mayor of the City of Wash- Washington City, its Founding and Development. Fred- Dr. William Thornton and his Essay on "Teaching the Deaf, or Surd, and consequently Dumb, to Speak," 1793. Sketch of the Life of William Thornton. 371819 In Memoriam-Louis Peirce Shoemaker. By John A. Twenty-Third Annual Report of the Recording Secretary. 300 Twenty-Third Annual Report of the Curator... 302 1 Birthplace of Matthew G. Emery, Suncook, N. H.... 20 2 Washington as First Seen by Mr. Emery 24 3 Extract from Letter of Mayor Emery 34 4 Residence of Matthew G. Emery, 207 I St., N. W.... 42 FOOD AND EFFICIENCY. BY HARVEY W. WILEY. (Read before the Society, January 18, 1916.) One of the triumphs of modern chemistry has been achieved in the field of living organisms. Biochemistry represents the particular line of research which has thus enriched our knowledge of life. Long ago scientific men were struck with the similarity of the action of the human organism and of the steam engine. In the one case food is placed in the stomach and heat and energy are developed; in the other case fuel is placed in the furnace and heat and energy are developed. Engineers were not slow to notice the enormous efficiency of the human engine as compared with that made of steel and iron. A pound of fuel fed to a grown man will develop apparently many times as much energy as a pound of coal fed to the boiler of an engine. In other words the mechanism of the body, in so far as the use of fuel is concerned, is a much more finished machine than that built by man. As our knowledge of living phenomena became more definite it was seen that the human body is a chemical laboratory which in its equipment for efficiency far outclasses the most elaborate structures of the universities and industrial combinations. While it is cheaper to operate it is very much more efficient in service. The peculiarity of the human laboratory is that it extends to every part of the structure. While there are certain rooms in the human laboratory in which particular functions take place, the general utilization of the fuel is spread to every particle composing the human machine. The mouth, the lungs, the stomach, the heart, the intestines, the kidneys, all perform particular functions, but every portion of the human anatomy takes part in the general chemical processes. A steam engine to be efficient must be well made, of strong material, properly balanced and thoroughly lubricated. The motive force in such an engine will do its maximum amount of work. The efficiency of the human body likewise depends first upon its structure, that all parts should be evenly balanced and so adjusted as to work harmoniously as a unit. Without a perfect working laboratory like this it is useless to seek for the highest degree of individual efficiency. With such a working organism it is necessary only by practice to acquire the skill, in other words to become educated, in order to secure the greatest efficiency possible. As Ruskin has well said, "The first duty of a man is to be a good animal." This means that he is to have a well-proportioned body, of a proper size, free of fault. and disease, and properly developed by exercise to put forth as occasion demands a maximum degree of energy. In studying the factors which bring about the building of such a laboratory and its operation we are struck with the fact that the fuel, that is, the food, out of which the body is built should be of a proper kind, properly balanced and used in proper quantities. From the chemical point of view food is that which, taken into the body, builds tissue, restores waste and supplies heat and energy. The terms "heat" and "energy" may be used synonymously. Without heat the energy which is manifested in the living body could not be developed. Of course there is a distinction between heat and energy. Energy is work, exertion, effort. Heat is merely a certain condition of temperature. The exact knowledge of the relations of heat to the energy |