NUTRITION LABORATORY. 229 



civilians is likewise emphasized, as well as the possibilities for the conscien- 

 tious patriot to conserve food by weight reduction, since the element of 

 danger in such reduction is extremely remote. 



"Let no one (particularly if he be overweight) complacently say that he 

 has done his share until some positive action for food restriction has been 

 taken. Fortunately no special chemical analyses, no calorimetric devices, 

 no physiological measurements are essential for the control of this factor, 

 One has but to lower the body- weight gradually 10 per cent and adjust the 

 food eaten to hold it at this level. The reduction in weight should cover a 

 period of probably two to three months. It could be done in a considerably 

 shorter time. When the weight is once lowered and the caloric intake adjusted 

 to holding the weight at that level, the patriot may feel assured that he or 

 she is really making some positive contribution toward food conservation and 

 making it possible to send liberally to our allies and to our own men much- 

 needed supplies. 



"I can not feel that an alteration in the army diet is justifiable at present. 

 It is bad policy 'to swap horses in the middle of the stream.' The fighting 

 unit may well be exempted from innovations, but let the civilian population 

 give this whole project a thorough, honest test, recognizing that while there 

 may be, in certain cases, an element of hazard and in many cases an element 

 of discomfort, the possibilities for danger in accomphshing a weight reduction 

 of 10 per cent are negligible. The calories thereby saved are by no means 

 negligible, and with the sum total of our population would feed an enormous 

 army." 



(4) Physiological effects of a prolonged reduction in diet on twenty-five men. Francis G. 



Benedict. Journ. Roy. Army Med. Corps, August 1918. 

 Reprint of No. 3. See abstract of that paper. 



(5) Effets physiologiques d'une reduction prolong^e du regime alimentaire experiment^e 



sur vingt-cinq sujets. Francis G. Benedict. Bui. de la Soc. Sci. d'Hyg. Ali- 

 mentaire, 6, 442 (1918). 



Reprint of No. 3. See abstract of that paper. 



(6) Energy metabolism of an amaurotic family idiot. Fritz B. Talbot. Am. Journ. 



Diseases of Children, 16, 39 (1918). 



This paper gives the results of observations with a female child having 

 amaurotic family idiocy and pyelitis. The girl was 2 years and 4 months old, 

 had a height of 76 cm., and a weight of 6.41 kg. She was extremely ema- 

 ciated and moved in bed only when distm-bed by soimd or touch. The mus- 

 cles were thin and atrophic. The metabolism was determined in 3 half-hour 

 periods with complete quiet. The heat produced per 24 hours, as calculated 

 from the average results of these three periods, was 39 calories per kilogram. 

 Per square meter of body-surface it was 700 calories on the basis of the Lissauer 

 formula and 610 calories on the basis of measurements taken by the Du Bois 

 linear formula. During the observation the rectal temperature was 97° F. 



This child with am.aurotic family idiocy presents an unusual and compli- 

 cating situation, in which the very low metabolism may have been modified 

 by the subnormal temperature, by emaciation, by the plane on which the 

 girl was Hving, or by the disease; no simple explanation for these results is 

 apparent. It is hoped that other records of the metabolism of amaurotic 

 family idiots will clear up the doubtful points presented in this picture. 



(7) The energy content of extra foods. CorneUa Golay Benedict and F. G. Benedict. 



Boston Med. and Surg. Journ., 179, 153 (1918). 

 A careful survey of the food consumption of various classes of individuals 

 has shown that there is a striking tendency, particularly in recent years, for 



