280 VITALITY AND EFFICIENCY WITH RESTRICTED DIET. 



up all the bread in a meal for it. If I could have had the food and eaten it 

 when and how I pleased, just the same amount, it would have seemed much 

 better to me. That is, I wanted some freedom in reference to it. Think 

 the matter of intense occupation a big factor in making one able to accom- 

 modate himself to a reduced diet and the presence of hunger. I would be 

 willing to stake all on the absolute reliabihty of the men under the honor 

 system. I would not have gone into the experiment if watched all the time, 

 as then there would have been the attitude of trying to 'put something over'. 

 Dr. Carpenter was at the Laboratory on the evening before the experiment 

 ended when I had some candy or food and told me to be careful or the 

 temptation might be too strong to take some. I laughed and stated that I 

 had two dozen almond bars, several glasses of jelly, and other food in my 

 room all the time, which had been sent me from home by my people or given 

 by local friends. There was absolutely no temptation to take it under the 

 circumstances, but had the people watched us and checked us, I do not 

 know how it would have been then.' ' 



"You will have to hand it to Mr. Fox for being able to get on with the 12 

 men of our squad, who were so crabbed and complaining most of the time. 

 When we found that the food was cut down, for example, the men com- 

 plained in an almost rude fashion. Some fellow would say, 'Here, what 

 does this mean; don't I get some of this to-day, or some of that other to-day?' 

 Mr, Fox would just calmly reply: 'I did not plan on that.'" 



May 21, 1918. — Is now going without midday meals; eats breakfast and 

 supper and thinks that these are not heavier meals than he ate on the three- 

 meal basis, and therefore that he is taking less food than he used to take 

 normally. The experiment ended February 3. Up to the spring vacation, 

 April 3, he ate three meals a day and the amounts eaten were considerably 

 more between February 3 and April 3 than since that time. With regard 

 to a statement sent to Professors Chittenden and Lusk that this regime was 

 not recommended for the army or for men performing severe muscular labor, 

 Bro said: "I should say not. I have myself at other times said, 'I should 

 hate to see our soldiers put on that diet'. Under the conditions of an athletic 

 contest two teams may go through substantially the same motions and the 

 same team plays, but one team does it with more snap and gets there quicker; 

 that team is going to win the game. It was just that added snap and punch 

 that the men on the diet lacked and that would be the essential thing that 

 a soldier must have in order to succeed." 



In addition to the personal introspections of the men in Squad A 

 regarding the diet, a few statements are given which were recorded 

 by the experimenters during the progress of the experiment. 



October 30, 1917. — "It seems as if most of the squad overate on Sunday, 



October 28; on talking with them they all claim that it knocked them out 



and they would not fill up again in the same way." 



January 21, 1918. — "Complaint of hunger is comparatively infrequent." 

 January 25, 1918. — Written on calendar near table of diet squad: "10 



more days, then we will eat.' ' The number of days was changed daily by one 



of the squad. 

 January 29, 1918. — "Everything is going on well. The only complaint 



is generally about being 'hungry' ". 



January SO, 1918. — "The end of it all is the talk of the town." 



January 31, 1918. — "The craving for meat as the particular article of 



food which would be the most welcomed when the diet was discontinued 



