o instruct you in special cooking, but to illustrate in
this manner how much easier it is, to both the cook and your stomachs, to
prepare healthful dishes than to do the reverse.

* * * * *

TIME REQUIRED TO DIGEST DIFFERENT FOODS.

_The Monitor de la Salud_ contains in a recent number the results of some
experiments lately made by E. Jessen on the time required for the
digestion of certain kinds of food. The stomach of the person on whom the
experiments were made was emptied by means of a pump; 100 grammes, equal
to 1,544 grains, or about 2-2/3 ounces, of meat, finely chopped and mixed
with three times the quantity of water, were introduced. The experiment
was considered ended when the matter, on removal by the pump, was found to
contain no muscular fibre.

It will be remembered that the gramme weighs nearly 15-1/2 grains, and the
cubic centigramme is equal to 1 gramme. The 2-2/3 ounces of meat were
therefore mixed with nearly eight ounces of water, before being introduced
into the stomach.

The results were as follows:

Beef, raw, and finely chopped. 2 hours.
" half cooked. 21/2 "
" well cooked. 3 "
" slightly roasted. 3 "
" well roasted. 4 "
Mutton, raw. 2 "
Veal. 21/2 "
Pork. 3 "

The digestibility of milk was examined in the same way. The quantity used
was regulated so that the nitrogen should be the same as in the 100
grammes of beef.

602 cubic centimeters, nearly sixteen ounces,
of cow's milk, not boiled, required. 31/2 hours
602 cubic centimeters, boiled. 4 "
602 " " sour. 31/2 "
675 " " skimmed. 31/2 "
656 " " goat's milk, not boiled. 31/2 "

* * * * *

THE ORGANIZATION AND PLAN OF THE UNITED STATES GEOLOGICAL SURVEY.[7]

[Footnote 7: Communicated to the National Academy of Sciences at the
October meeting in 1884.]

By J.W. POWELL.

A Scientific institution or bureau operating under government authority
can be controlled by statute and by superior administrative authority but
to a limited extent. These operations are practically carried on by
specialists, and they can be controlled only in their financial operations
and