688 VITALITY AND EFFICIENCY WITH RESTRICTED DIET. 



bines the removal of fat by excessive activity with the enlargement 

 of the muscles with practice. Comments made in gymnasium classes 

 implied that the men found the muscles were more free when they were 

 on the reduced diet than when they were on uncontrolled diet. 



Since, however, the changes in the metabolism were accompanied 

 in practically all cases by a large loss of nitrogen from the body, the 

 correlation of the nitrogen loss with the lowered metabolism is a 

 natural procedure. With Squad B the general picture is much the 

 same as with Squad A, although as the weight loss and the nitrogen 

 loss were only about one-half those of Squad A, the depressions are not 

 so sharply accentuated as with that squad. 



An inspection of the nitrogen figures leads us to believe, however, 

 that the most obvious cause for this lower metabolism is the removal 

 of some 175 or more grams of nitrogen from the bodies of these men, 

 resulting in a withdrawal from the fluids bathing the cells of a large 

 amount of nitrogenous material. This material, which acts as a 

 stimulus to cellular- activity, is probably of an acid nature. It is clear 

 that a careful chemical analysis of the blood should have been made. 



It is of prime importance to note that in this whole series of experi- 

 ments with the 25 or more men involved, the picture exhibited by the 

 individual men is almost identical with that shown by the group as a 

 whole. In other words, we have here no exceptions. It is extremely 

 unfortunate that all of the initial members of Squad A could not have 

 completed the 4 months' test. This would have greatly simplified the 

 averaging of the results. Of the original members of Squad A, however, 

 there were 9 men who went through the entire period without a break; 

 we have therefore averaged the values for the most important findings 

 for these 9 men and present these averages in the form of a chart. 

 (See fig. 124.) It should be emphasized at this point that our basal 

 tables and our derived tables for the several factors studied are made 

 up from an analysis of the situation as presented by all the members 

 of both squads, and the conclusions are drawn from these figures. The 

 curves given in this chart, however, are drawn from the picture pre- 

 sented by only 9 members of Squad A ^ So far as we can see, there is 

 little, if any, change in the general appearance of the picture or the 

 interpretation of the data as a result of this curtailment in the number 

 of men. For a general picture showing the influence of low diet upon 

 all the physiological factors mentioned, a chart is preeminently desir- 

 able, but in making such a chart it is necessary to average values in so 

 far as possible for the same number of individuals. The body-weight 

 curve, representing a composite curve of the weight changes of 9 men, 

 has a particular interest in that the distinctive features brought out in 

 discussing the individual body-weight curves, namely, the post-Sunday 



^The 9 men whose data were used for the chart in figure 124 are as follows; Bro, Can, Gar, 

 Gul, Mon, Moy, Pea, Pec, and Vea. 



