636 VITALITY AND EFFICIENCY WITH RESTRICTED DIET. 



experiments. It must be noted, moreover, that in the case of Squad B, 

 the two experiments were separated by 4 weeks instead of 2 weeks, as 

 with A. The depression on October 27 is caused in part by the poor 

 records of Mon for time and for accuracy. (See table 189, which shows 

 Mon's records on this date were for time, 1,355 seconds, total number of 

 points, 51, and points per minute, 2.3.) If this subject were omitted 

 from the average, the figure would be 8.2 points per minute, which 

 would be much more nearly in hne with the value shown for October 13, 

 but sHghtly lower. Improvement is very rapid in the next three ses- 

 sions, reaching its maximum on December 8. This maximum is 



Fig. 123. — Accuracy in performing the clerical tasks. 

 Solid lines represent Squad A, broken lines Squad B. 



largely due, perhaps, to the fortunate circumstance that on that date 

 three of the subjects, Bro, Gar, and Vea, chanced to have perfect records, 

 with the result that their points per minute were in each case the highest 

 they had made at any time in the experiments. Giving their records in 

 order as named, they were 16.3, 14.2, and 16.9 points per minute. The 

 marked depression on December 19 can not be associated with any 

 particular dietetic change, for the men were fairly comfortable at this 

 period of the experiment, as is clearly indicated by their introspections 

 recorded in other sections of this report. The improvement was con- 

 tinued on January 12, 26, and February 2, although not on the high 

 level of December 8. The results, as with several other of our measure- 

 ments, are complicated. They indicate that Squad B during the three 

 weeks of low diet, and Squad A during the first four weeks of low diet, 

 improved but slowly in their efficiency in the clerical tests. 



