INTRODUCTION. 5 



Before giving the details and discussing the results of this research, a 

 general history will be given of the experimental work leading up to the 

 present study, together with brief abstracts and a critique of the work 

 of other investigators on metabolism with a low intake of food. 



SEARCH FOR SUBNORMAL METABOLISM. 



The initial experiments in the study of variations in basal metabol- 

 ism were carried out at Wesleyan University, Middletown, Connecticut, 

 with several subjects who seemed to show potentialities for low metabol- 

 ism. The first study was that of a man who had but one lung,^ the assimap- 

 tion being made that with diminished lung area there might be dis- 

 tinctly different metabolic activity. The results of this experiment, 

 although perhaps somewhat open to debate when judged by modern 

 technique and compared with modern data, indicated no striking 

 change in the level of metaboHsm. 



From time to time during the past two decades certain individuals, 

 particularly those who have given more than ordinary attention to 

 their dietetic habits, have come forward with the contention that they 

 were able to subsist upon considerably less food than is required by the 

 normal individual. The first one studied was the case of the late 

 Mr. Horace Fletcher. Mr. Fletcher had interested himself in sociologi- 

 cal and economic problems for a number of years and had brought 

 himself to believe that by means of a peculiar adjustment of diet and 

 particularly a supposedly advantageous method of excessive mastica- 

 tion, he could subsist upon materially lower amounts of food and with 

 a much lower metabolism than normal individuals. His contention 

 was seemingly supported by the observations of Professor Chitten- 

 den,^ of Yale University. While the observations on Mr. Fletcher 

 dealt primarily with the total nitrogen metabolism, Professor Chit- 

 tenden, in commenting upon the excessive muscular work done, makes 

 the following statement regarding the energy transformation: 



"Yet the work was done without apparently drawing upon any reserve the 

 body may have possessed. The diet, small though it was, and with only half 

 the accepted requirement in fuel value, still sufficed to furnish the requisite 

 energy. The work was accomplished with perfect ease, without strain, 

 without the usual resultant lameness, without taxing the heart or lungs, and 

 without loss of body-weight. In other words, in Mr, Fletcher's case at least, 

 the body machinery was kept in perfect fitness without the consumption of 

 any such quantities of fuel as has generally been considered necessary."' 



In other words, on the low energy intake of approximately 1,700 

 calories Mr. Fletcher, carrying out the training regime and exercises of 

 the Yale University crew, was able to perform a day's duty of this type 

 with supposedly no draft upon body material. 



1 Carpenter and Benedict, Am. Journ. Physiol., 1909, 23, p. 412. 



2 Chittenden, Pop. Sci. Monthly, 1903, 63, p. 130; ibid., 1907, 71, p. 536. 



3 Chittenden, Pop. Sci. Monthly, 1903, 63, p. 130. 



