22 VITALITY AND EFFICIENCY WITH RESTRICTED DIET. 



zersetzende Protoplasma, sich der bedrangten Lage anpassend, sparsamer 

 arbeitet."^ 



Falta, Grote, and Staehelin, 1907. — Although the main object of the 

 investigation of Falta, Grote, and Staehelin^ was to study the specific 

 dynamic effect of individual proteins and the physiological utilization 

 of hydrolyzed protein, certain of their experiments and conclusions have 

 a bearing upon the question of undernutrition. In one series various 

 amounts of meat were fed to a dog weighing approximately 24 kg. 

 The ingenious Jaquet respiration apparatus was employed, but with 

 unfortunately small differences in carbon-dioxide increment and oxy- 

 gen deficit in the expired air; the errors of gas analysis were therefore 

 greatly magnified. Furthermore, for our purpose of studying the influ- 

 ence of undernutrition, the results are more or less contaminated by the 

 inclusion of the increased metabolism due to the stimulating effect of 

 the meat. Although the experiments are so subdivided as to give 

 measurements in the latter part of the 24 hours, it is questionable 

 whether, when meat was given in large amounts, the entire influence of 

 the food had disappeared even at the end of 24 hours. Several series 

 of experiments were made, each consisting of 3 days. On the first day 

 there was a basal experiment when only water was given. On the 

 second day varying amounts of horse flesh were fed; on the third day 

 there was a second basal experiment. Three such series of experiments 

 were made. Falta, Grote, and Staehelin argue that since during each 

 week the dog was fasting 3 days and fed 4 days he was more or less in a 

 condition of chronic undernutrition. 



The authors compare the fasting value on the first day of the first 

 series of experiments with the fasting value on the third day of the 

 third series of experiments, and note that there is a distinct decrease in 

 the heat production per square meter of body-surface per 24 hours 

 amounting to 8 per cent, i. e., from 918.3 to 844.5 calories. They 

 cite this decrease as evidence of the accommodation of the body to 

 the smaller food intake, and point out that this assumption has here- 

 tofore lacked definite proof. In explaining some of the differences 

 found in the results obtained with the various proteins — differences 

 that were, to be sure, very small — they argue that it is possible, inas- 

 much as there is a reduction in the total heat production in the fast- 

 ing experiments during a condition of chronic undernutrition, that 

 there may likewise be a lessening in the intensity of the specific 

 dynamic action under conditions of chronic undernutrition. 



Two criticisms must be raised against the method of computation 

 used by Falta, Grote, and Staehelin. In the first place they have evi- 

 dently made an error in computing the body-surface of their dog at the 

 end of the third day of the third period. The initial weight was 23.8 



^ von Noorden, Handbuch der Pathologic des Stoffwechsels, Berlin, 1906, 2 Aufl., 1, p. 486. 

 2 Falta, Grote, and Staehelin. Beitr. z. chem. Physiol, u. Path., 1907, 9, p. 333. 



