FOODS — HUMAN NUTRITION, 561 



hydrates, and related questions were studied. Tlie foods used in tlie tests were 

 meat, casein, gluten casein, hydrolyzed casein, and meat with levulose. The 

 authors state that if any difference in the specific dynamic power of the foods 

 existed it was very small and unimportant and that the physiological nutritive 

 effect of hydrolyzed casein is not lower than that of meat protein. 



In the experiments reported the sjiecifle dynamic effect of the food upon heat 

 production was much less than was to be expected from earlier metabolism 

 experiments and considerably smaller than that which would correspond to the 

 cleavage of protein alone. 



A comparison of the carbon dioxid curve and the values for the respiratory 

 quotients with the nitrogen curve in the experiments showed that nitrogen 

 excretion was greatly increased at the time when the respiratory gaseous 

 exchange had nearly or quite reached the value noted in fasting. 



Nitrogen compounds in the urine as . affected by differences in diet, B. 

 ScHONDORFF (Arcli. PhyiioL [Pfliiger]. Ill (1901), A'o. 5-6, pp. 257-274).— 

 Experiments with dogs fasting and fed with meat, rice, and lard, alone and in 

 combination showed, according to the author, that increasing the nitrogen con- 

 tent of the food may increase the urea nitrogen to a maximum value of 97.98 

 per cent of the total nitrogen excreted in the urine. When fasting this value 

 may diminish to a minimum of 75.44 per cent of the total. When the diet con- 

 sisted entirely of carbohydrates or fat a mean value of 85 to 86 per cent was 

 noted. 



Studies of a vegetarian diet with special reference to the nervous sys- 

 tem, circulation of the blood, and diuresis, K. Staehelin {Ztsclir. Biol., ^9 

 (1907), No. 2, pp. 199-2S2, figs, //). — From experiments with himself and other 

 subjects, the author concludes that proteids of different origin (from rice and 

 potatoes) differ in respect to inducing nitrogen equilibrium in tlie body. The 

 dry matter of the feces on the dift'erent diets studied contained the same per- 

 centage of nitrogen so that the excretion through this channel would be deter- 

 mined by the amount of feces excreted. 



On account of its lower energy value the author considers vegetable food 

 preferable for the treatment of obesity, as such diet produces fewer disturb- 

 ances. The author also believes a vegetarian diet useful in the treatment of 

 dipsomania. 



A vegetarian diet exercised no effect on body temperature. In some cases the 

 gas formation in the intestine was greater on a vegetarian diet than on a meat 

 diet and in some cases smaller. Peristalsis was increased by the vegetarian diet. 



Judging by the results of ergographic experiments a vegetarian diet exercised 

 no effect on the nervous system or upon muscular work. The work of the kid- 

 neys, as shown by the nitrogen excretion and other experimental data, was less 

 on a vegetarian diet than on a mixed diet or milk diet. Other conclusions have 

 to do with pulse frequency, blood pressure, viscosity of the blood, etc. An 

 extended bibliography is ai)pended to this report. 



A physiological study of vegetarians, Mlles. I. Ioteyko and V. Kipiani 

 {Rev. Soc. 8ci. Hyg. Aliment., 3 {1906), No. 2, pp. llJf-207, pis. 3).— The authors 

 discuss various questions connected with vegetarianism and report studies re- 

 garding the kinds and amounts of food eaten by 43 vegetarians of both sexes 

 living in Belgium. In a number of cases muscular power was studied with an 

 ergograph and with a dynamometer. 



The author.s' conclusions are favorable to vegetarianism and such a form of 

 diet in their judgment is of value in counteracting alcoholism. Meat, they be- 

 lieve, should be consid(»red a drug like alcohol and its use regulated on this 

 basis. Dynamometer tests, according to the authors, showed that the endurance 

 of the vegetarians was greater than was the case with flesh eaters, average 



