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15'2
(turrent ?Literature.
KERR, J. School Lighting (Modern Requirements and Recent
Progress). Illuminating Engineer, 1926, v. 19, ]63-5. Also in
J01l1'1l. School Hyg. and Physical Education, 1926, v. 18, 280-84.
In this paper, Dr. James Kerr (late School M.O. for London) traces the
progress in hygienic lighting of schools from the time of the appointment of
the first joint' committee of investigation by the Illuminating Engineering
Society in 1911, and compares it with the engineering progress made from
the time of the old carbon filament to the half-watt gas-filled electric bulb
and modern gas appliances. He re-emphasizes the standard, laid down ill
1914, of 0'5 per cent' daylight-factor' (ratio of illumination in room to that
at same time from hemisphere of sky), or 1 per cent. 'sill-ratio' (ratio
between illumination in room and that of :mtside window-sill) in f:!chools.
He recommends for school windows use of glass (e.g., 'vita glass ')
pervious to ultra-violet rays of 300 to 310 ## to_ which is attributed so great
a stimulating effect upon nutrition, especially in children. This practical
suggestion has the greater force when one considers the intimate relation
between light- and ophthalmic nutrition in young childhood, and every aid
should be given to the industrial cheapening of such glass.
The author's wish to increase the minimum light for any s~hool place
from 2 to 3 foot-candles is in accord with the present trend.
His experienced exposition on" Children's Vision" is so instructive that
it calls for quotation:" The psychology of a child, especially a young child, is to be regarded.
Actual school observations show that there is a considerable effort for a
child to recognize what it can see. An adult sees the form or shape of an
object or words at a glance. The merest hint, and then association with
past memories, places the word or object at once. Not so the child;
details have to be pieced together to. recognize and assimilate or apperceive
the- whole. For this reason well-illuminated detail is educationally needed,
especially the younger the child. It is as if a big voltage were wanted to
carry the nervous impress over the resistances in the slightly developed
nervous tracts of the child, otherwise the intellect is not reached, and
recognition not attained."
That refers to 'children with normal vision, and good illumination is of
even greater importance with those-variously estimated at from 21 to 5
million of the children in Great Britain-whose vision is defective. It
remains to be seen to what extent improved lighting in sphools will lessen
, the present disastrous proportion of 66 per cent of industrial workers
suffering from some defect of vision, but the main experiment is one
urgently demandIng trial. ,
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Oztrrent Literature
153
Dr. Kerr's wide experience lends weight to his view that mInImUm
lighting standards now in use should be doubled if study is carried out for
extended periods. Later experiments suggest that the 5 to 7 foot candles
. which he advocates as the need for desk-tops should be further increased
to at least 10, and that the optimum may be even as high as 20. This
increase adds the great~r force to the necessity, which Dr. Kerr urges, that
" all naked sources of light should be shaded or screened," and that "no
visible source of illumination should exceed 3 candles per square ·inch in
intrinsic brilliance." He stresses the need of 60 per cent accessory
illumination upon the surface of blackboards, which play so important a
part in modern class-teaching.
,Vhile Dr. Kerr himself was much impressed by the results obtained
from 150-watt Mazda lamps in 16-inch globes (of which six in a room of 28
by 32 feet gave 5 foot-candles on a consumption of 1 watt per sq. foot
surface), the subsequent discussion gave the impression that the more
general opinion was in favour of the' restlight ' principle of filtering off the
excess of orange-red rays which are present in ordinary electric light to the
extent of 4~ times the proportion in the daylight spectrum.
P. S. LELEAN.
Reprinted from Ii Bulleth~ of Hygiene," Vol. 1, No. 12.
HINDHEDE, M. The Biological Value of Bread Protein. Biochem. J.,
19~6, v. 20, 330-34.
[4 refs.]
MARTIN and ROBISON published a paper in 1922 in which they stated
that the protein of bread has a biological value of only 3Q to 35 per cent of
that of animal protein. The author of this paper has investigated the
question himself and has found bread protein to be equal in value to animal
protein. He has obtained nitrogen equilibrium in men receiving 22 grams of
digestible bread protein a day, which is about the minimum quantity of
of meat protein necessary to maintain nitrogen equilibrium. He has
found it necessary to continue the low protein diet for many weeks before
the equilibrium is established, and it was apparently neglect of this
procedure which led to the failure of MARTIN and ROBISON to obtain
equilibrium on their low bread protein diets. When bread is the main
item in the diet it is very difficult to reduce the nitrogen intake to a very
low level without reducing the caloric value of the diet below the requirements of the body, on. account of the relative richness of bread in nitrogen.
This difficulty can be overcome by adding large quantities of fruit, which
has heen found to reduce the absorption of nitrogenous compounds.
There is evidence that the quantity of nitrogen absorbed from such fruit as
strawberries is almost negligible. Young men remain in good health and
capable of doing a hard day's work for months on end while taking a diet
containing only this small amonnt of protein of vegetable origin.
E. MELLANBY.
Reprinted from" Bulletin of Hygiene," Vol. 1, No. 12.
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154
Ourrent LitemtuTe
J. H. Foods and Deficiency Diseases
Burgeon, 1926, v. 58, 510-23. [25 refs.]
HUDDLESTON,
In
War. Milit.
Great attention was paid to nutrition problems during the Great War.
The Inter-Allied Scientific Food Commission, composed of experts from the
various allied nations, made it its business to acquaint the nations concerned
with any scientific knowledge that might be useful in allocating food
supplies. In America there. was a United States Food Administration
Department whose duty it was to advise the civil, population. as to
methods of balancing their diets and economizing in food. A speciitl Food
Division of the Surgeon-General's office was established for the supervision
of the rationing of the United States Army. All these bodies devoted their
attention to research Into practical problems of nutrition, and this paper
embodies some of the conclusions which were .reached.
For soldiers not on active service a minimum ration of 3,300 calories
was advised; a ration of 3,900 calories should be given to troops oh active
service. Growing youths should be supplied with extra food beyond this
allowance. Exposure of troops to cold and wet raises their foo!! requirements. Health can be maintained on a far smaller ration if heavy work is
not don~; a' large proportion of the civil popUlation of Belgium lived
entir~ly on the ratIon supplied by the Commission for Relief in Belgium
and this never exceeded 2,000 calOrIes. "War bread" presented difficulties; .
too much germ in the flour impaired the keeping qualities .of the bread; too
much bran made breadmaking difficult for the inexperienced. If loaves are
not too big and are baked with a v~ry hard crust they are not so liable to
get mouldy. The Hoover Commission in Belgium demonstrated that men
could subsist without showing signs of deficiency diseases on diets containing
as little as 35 gm. of protein a day. The problem of the minimum and
0ptimum rationoffat was never solved. A certain amount of knowledge
concerning the keeping qualities of vitamins was obtained during the war.
The value of tinned tomatoes as a source of vitamin C and even of B and A
was recognized and the antiscorbutic value of germinated pulses was worked
out. Not much fresh knowledge of 'food deficiency diseases was obtained
from war experience, but ample opportunity was given to demonstrate the
value of the previously recognized methods of treating beriberi and scurvy.
Studies of the mtiology of pellagra were undertaken and attempts were
made to place the disease in the category of a deficiency disease. .Though
evidence was obtained that the eating of maize was in sonie way implicated,
the problem was never solved.
E. MELLANBY.
Reprinted from" Bulletin of Hygiene," Vol. 1;' No. 12 .
•
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Army Med Corps 1927; vol
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J R Army Med Corps 1927 48: 152-154
doi: 10.1136/jramc-48-02-11
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