The United States Office of Experiment Stations conducted a number of dietary studies at the Government Hospital for the Insane in Washington, D.C. The hospital was “designed primarily for the benefit of persons who have become insane while performing Government duty as soldiers and sailors,” though it also housed “all the insane of the District of Columbia.” Home to some 2,200 souls, the hospital was chosen as the site of the dietary study because its inmates were said to be “of an exceptionally good class”; the majority of them were neither hostile nor untidy. Being former military men, they were believed to possess above average in intelligence and a decent education.