676 VITALITY AND EFFICIENCY WITH RESTRICTED DIET. 



man in school, and since the experiment ended many have remarked that I 

 acted more Hke myself. I realize that during the experiment I was more 

 critical and irritable and more ready to pick other people to pieces, and since 

 the uncontrolled eating I have felt different toward my associates. Since I 

 have as much or more work to do now than I did during the diet experiment, 

 I can not believe that it was just the details of the experiment that produced 

 this condition, but think it must have been the reduction in food that caused 

 the increase in irritabihty. The physical weakness might also act in this way. 

 During the experiment there were several times at the dining-hall when some 

 amusing incidents happened, but they did not appeal to us as being particu- 

 larly funny, as they would do now; we seemed to have a different and more 

 serious mental attitude. I cared nothing at all for going to shows, which now 

 and before the diet were very attractive to me." 



Pea. — November 24: "The first three days of this week I could not study." 

 December 8: "Not much ambition for study." January 12: "I have no 

 ambition to sit and study; do not feel nearly so good as when I was eating full 

 diet during the Christmas vacation." February 8: "Wednesday morning I 

 went to sleep in class after the Tuesday evening banquet at Peckham's; I 

 have not noticed any particular change in my studies yet." May 22: While 

 the men would stand a good deal of 'kidding' among themselves, from their 

 squad associates, they were more easily irritated, I think; some of them were 

 judged by outside men to be very crabbed indeed. For example, some of the 

 freshmen who entered college this fall, and had never known the men before, 

 judged their dispositions on the basis of what they found them to be during the 

 experiment; since the experiment has ended some of them have remarked at 

 the considerable change they have found in us and expressed surprise at their 

 previous misjudgment." 



Can. — November 10: "Thinks his mind may be somewhat clearer than 

 when eating uncontrolled." December 19: Felt good for the most part of 

 this week; studied hard and long last night (until 12 o'clock); feels better 

 than on any previous visit to Boston. February 2: "I think that in general 

 the experiment has caused some decline in efficiency in studying; aside from 

 this and the physical weakness the chief thing noted was the inconvenience 

 of the experiment and the feeling of restraint of having always to stop and 

 consider whether I can do this or that; then there was the trouble of collection 

 of urine and feces." February 8: "I find that I can keep awake, study better, 

 and pay better attention in class than I could on the diet; I have headache 

 and a tired feeling in my eyes as during the experiment." May 22: "Your 

 insistence that the talk about crabbedness is just a joke is wrong. Perhaps 

 crabbedness is not the right word; I know of no better one to express it. The 

 men were certainly more easily irritated during the period of the diet. Things 

 which now appear to be small and insignificant were at that time exceedingly 

 irritating and caused us to complain, particularly in reference to the amount 

 of the food at the table. Our irritability was a subject of common remark 

 among our outside friends; there were individual differences naturally; some 

 of the men were easier to get on with than others. I think a good deal 

 depended upon the scientific interest that the individual had in the experi- 

 ment and his trying to look at the matter objectively. I believe you would 

 have much more difficulty in trying to conduct the experiment with a group 

 of men who had no scientific interest in the problem and whose enthusiasm 

 for research was not aroused. I am under the impression that my mind was a 

 little clearer for purposes of work during the diet period, but it was not sup- 



