Dr. Worcester Would Call to Life Memorial Hall Commons Restored--Flays Present Time Upperclass Eating Habits

"Bolting one's food in a stand-up lunchroom, as so many men in the three upper classes do at present, is directly contrary to the demands of the body," started Dr. Alfred Worcester '78, Professor of Hygiene, in an interview yesterday. "Fortunately, the Freshman class is provided with as wholesome a diet as possible in the dormitory dining-halls, but that only takes care of a small per cant of the student body.

"The majority of the undergraduates, beginning with the Sophomore class, eat irregularly in the cafeterias around the Square. Quite aside from the unwhole-someness of the food, the hurry that is almost always necessary in such places has a very deleterious effect upon health. The time spend in eating is not waited. Leisurely eating with one's companions is not only enjoyable but essential to one's well-being.

"Man is a gregarious animal--that means he was intended to feed in company and not in isolation or among a horde of strangers, gulping down his coffee and sandwiches. Since Memorial Hall was discontinued with its big common dining-room and club tables for friends, the habit of snatching meals at odd hours during the day has afficted the upperclassmen.

"The virtue of regular meals and eating hours has been proved not only by common experience but very directly by Professor Irving Fisher of Yale. Professor Fisher found in the course of some experiments regarding eating that a definite group of students made a wonderful increase in strength and endurance simply by spending a longer time in masticating their food and by eating only what their appetites prompted them to take. Both of these requirements it is almost impossible to observe in the case of men eating in cafeterias at rush hours.

"The remedy for this state of affairs seems obvious enough. If the undergraduates, beginning with the Sophomore class, largely desired to have a revival of the Common dining-hall such as Memorial Hall used to be, it would be possible. The discontinuance of the Memorial Commons was not due to the college authorities, but to the students, who, for one reason or another, failed to patronize the dining hall in sufficient numbers to maintain it.

"The pressure of student opinion and interest could make possible the reopening of Memorial or the establishment of some similar dining-hall. To any graduate who used to eat at Memorial Hall at a club table with his friends, the passing of this college institution has seemed most lamentable. From a dietetic standpoint, its lapse from popularity has been a serious mistake."