12 CARNEGIE INSTITUTION OF WASHINGTON. 



and of two squads of students (a dozen men each) of the Y. M. 

 C. A. College of Springfield, Massachusetts. These squads, while 

 maintaining their regular college work, were put on a low diet and 

 kept under observation and experiment continuously for about 

 four months, from October 1917 to February 1918. They were 

 subjected to pathological, psychological, muscular, and calori- 

 metrical tests, so that a complete history for the duration of the 

 investigation was obtained for each individual as well as for 

 the group to which he belonged. 



The results of these researches are of prime present importance 

 and they were promptly communicated to the governmental 

 authorities. The observations reveal many unexpected facts and 

 record some surprisingly low levels of physiological stabiUty. 

 They show, among other things, that the normal adult man may 

 subsist for some months on a severely restricted diet and during 

 this time may undergo marked losses in body weight and in 

 nitrogenous reserves without serious impairment of his mental 

 and muscular efficiency. A full report of this work is now in 

 press as Publication No. 280. That a project involving so many 

 details, so much machinery, and the closest cooperation of so 

 many individuals could be successfully carried out in these 

 disturbing times may be taken as an evidence of the unity in 

 altruistic purpose of our American contemporaries as well as an 

 indication of the unity in altruistic endeavor of the staff of the 

 Nutrition Laboratory. 



When the world war broke out in 1914 the non-magnetic ship 

 Carnegie was engaged in her third cruise, which led to the highest 



north latitude she has attained, namely, 79° 52', 

 sh^^cmiegie. ^^ ^^^ northwcst coast of Spitzbergen. Sailing 



thence southward, and touching at Reykjavik, 

 Iceland, August 24, 1914, she learned of the changed order of 

 international affairs; but her program in the north Atlantic was 

 completed without difficulty and she returned to her base sta- 

 tion, Greenport, New York, October 9, and to Brooklyn, New 

 York, October 21, 1914. 



