PHYSIOLOGICAL ECONOMY IN NUTRITION. 131 



sugar and carbohydrates in general and away from a meat diet; is 

 always in perfect health, and is constantly in a condition of fitness 

 for work. He practises thorough mastication, with more complete 

 insalivation of the food (liquid as well as solid) than is usual, thereby 

 insuring more complete and ready digestion and a more thorough 

 utilization of the nutritive portions of the food. 



In view of these results, are we not justified in asking ourselves 

 whether we have yet attained a clear comprehension of the real require- 

 ments of the body in the matter of daily nutriment? Whether we 

 fully comprehend the best and most economical method of maintain- 

 ing the body in a state of physiological fitness? The case of Mr. 

 Fletcher just described; the results noted in connection with certain 

 Asiatic peoples; the fruitarians and nutarinns, in our own country 

 recently studied by Professor Jaffa, of the University of California; 

 all suggest the possibility of much greater physiological economy than 

 we as a race are wont to practise. If these are merely exceptional 

 cases, we need to know it, but if, on the other hand, it is possible for 

 mankind in general to maintain proper nutritive conditions on dietarjf 

 standards far below those now accepted as necessary, it is time for us 

 to ascertain that fact. For, if our standards are now unnecessarily 

 high, then surely we are not only practising an uneconomical method 

 of sustaining life, but we are subjecting ourselves to conditions the 

 reverse of physiological, and wliich must of necessity be inimical to 

 our well being. The possibility of more scientific knowledge of the 

 natural requirements of a healthy nutrition is made brighter by the 

 fact that the economic results noted in connection with our metabolism 

 examination of Mr. Fletcher is confirmatory of similar results obtained 

 under the direction and scrutiny of Sir Michael Foster at the Univer- 

 sity of Cambridge, England, during the autumn and winter of last 

 year; and by Dr. Ernest Van Someren, Mr. Fletcher's collaborateur, 

 in Venice, on subjects of various ages and of both sexes, some account 

 of which has already been presented to the British Medical Associa- 

 tion and to the International Congress of Physiologists at its last 

 meeting at Turin, Italy. At the same time emphasis must be laid 

 upon the fact that no definite and positive conclusions can be arrived 

 at except as the result of careful experiments and observations on 

 many individuals covering long periods of time. This, however, the 

 writer hopes to do in the very near future, with the cooperation of a 

 corps of interested observers. 



The problem is far-reaching. It involves not alone the individual, 

 but society as a whole, for beyond the individual lies the broader field 

 of the community, and what j)roves helpful for the one will eventually 

 react for the betterment of society and for the improvement of man- 

 kind in general. 



