610 VITALITY AND EFFICIENCY WITH RESTRICTED DIET. 



Squad A 

 Sqaad B 



with continuous improvement. The wide and opposed variations in 

 the thresholds shown by the two squads at their first measurements 

 cannot be satisfactorily explained. In the case of Squad B, the rise 

 in the threshold, shown on November 17, is of course partly due to the 

 records for Har, How, and Lon, as shown in table 176. However, the 

 average threshold does not improve on December 15, but is, in fact, 

 slightly higher on this date, for some of the subjects, particularly 

 Sne, show an increase. Considering Squad B's successive averages for 

 November 17, December 15, January 5, and January 13, it seems very 

 probable that the average threshold for November 3, the first time this 

 measurement was 

 taken, is very low 

 for some chance 

 reason which is 

 not revealed. This 

 conclusion seems 

 further justifiable 

 in view of the fact 

 that this thresh- 

 old for Squad B, 

 as was pointed out 

 earlier, is below 

 the average for 

 the normal group 

 of 1917. 



With Squad A 

 the first average 

 threshold is very 

 high, and indeed, 

 by present stand- 

 ards, seems abnor- 

 mally high. It is 



of course associated with food reduction, although on this particular date 

 (October 13) the subjects received an average of 1,993 net calories per 

 man, an amount which was 250 calories above the average for the 9 days 

 during the low-diet period on which the subjects of Squad A came to 

 Boston. An examination of table 175 for Squad A would indicate that 

 this high threshold for October 13 is due principally to the subjects Pea, 

 Can, and Bro. The first designated subject was poor in threshold 

 measurements, as will be seen by examining his record for the elec- 

 trical threshold. Can commonly wore glasses and apparently found 

 some difficulty in adjusting himself to taking the test without them. 

 No explanation can be given for the relatively high threshold of Bro, 

 who later in the series showed very consistent results and also a very 

 low threshold; furthermore his mean variation was usually small, 



Fig. 115. — Visual efficiency and its mean variation. 

 Solid lines represent Squad A, and broken lines Squad B. 



