GROWTH AND NUTRITION 95 



This station has also accumulated considerable data (unpub- 

 lished) concerning the effects of deficient nutrition of the moth- 

 ers on the birth weights of pigs. Gilts of similar breeding were 

 placed on three planes of nutrition, one well fed, one moder- 

 ately underfed, and one severely underfed. It was noted that 

 the average weight of the young from the moderately underfed 

 sows was practically the same as that of those from the well-fed 

 group j but the young from the severely underfed group were 

 on the average considerably lighter than the others. It also 

 seemed that the severe underfeeding affected chiefly the males. 

 The males of the poorly fed group were reduced in weight about 

 15 per cent, while the females were reduced only about 5 per 

 cent. As would be expected, in all groups the males were heavier 

 than the females, and the difference was the greater, the higher 

 the plane of nutrition. 



We seldom conduct experiments that involve the health of 

 man, and, consciously at least, never when the effects may be 

 undesirable. During the war, however, such an experiment was 

 conducted, more or less involuntarily, on almost a nation-wide 

 scale in Central Europe. We are told by competent observers 

 that the average body weight of the German population de- 

 creased markedly during the war. Underfeeding was most pro- 

 nounced, of course, among the poorer classes, and so they of- 

 fered exceptional opportunities for a study of the effects of 

 severe undernutrition. A number of German physicians and 

 physiologists have taken advantage of those opportunities, and 

 they have published numerous accounts of their observations. 

 In this connection we are chiefly interested in the birth weights 

 of German children born in the latter years of the war. Much 

 of their data was obtained from charity hospitals where pre- 

 sumably the more needy sought refuge, and yet, strangely 

 enough, practically all accounts are unanimous in stating that 

 the birth weights were not lowered by the privations undergone 

 by the mothers. The rate of growth of these children was, of 

 course, retarded by undernutrition following birth, but accord- 



