Fisher — The Effect of Diet on Endurance. 33 



We therefore have three methods of estimating the increase of 

 endurance between January and June. These may be put tosfether 

 in the following table : 



TABLE XV. 

 PERCENTAGE OF INCREASE OF ENDURANCE, JANUARY TO JUNE. 



BY THREE METHODS. 

 B E Lq Lw M P R T W 



Vtest? \ ^^± ~^'^± 1^^± ^^± ^l'^± ^^+ "^'^i 66 ± 109 ± 



Omittins; ) 



doiibtful )■ 84+ -.. 84+181 29+ 56+89+ 80+ 107 + 



cases " + " ) 



"Pure" ) 

 endurance - --- --- 62 ... 50 ... 170 200 100 + 



of biceps ) 



The first line of this table tells us the averao-e of the recorded im- 

 provement in endurance shown for each man. But as each such aver- 

 age is made up from the figures of Table XIII, some of which, as 

 indicated in that table, are possibly too high, some doubt necessai'ily 

 attaches to it, though practically the only real cases of doubt are 

 Lq. and M. The average of these averages is 101^ for the entire 

 club, and is probably within the truth ; for most of the individual 

 figures which go to make up this result are understatements, not 

 overstatements. 



The second line shows the average improvement in tests in which 

 there is no doubt that the figure is at least not too high, though it 

 may be too low. The avei'age of these is 89^, and is therefore cer- 

 tainly too low an estimate of the average improvement for the eight 

 men who improved at all. 



The third line shows the increase of pure endurance (that is, en- 

 durance considered apart from strength) for the five men for whom 

 the figures were available. The average of these is 11 Bf,?'. 



We are quite safe in saying therefore that the average improvement 

 of the eight men who improved was 90^. As to the degree of retro- 

 gression of E., it is diflicult to say, though it is believed that the fig- 

 ures exaggerate it. This is certainly true of the 25-lb. dumb-bell test, 

 for reasons given. My own impression, and E.'s also, is that he actually 

 gained in endurance from the dietetic experiment, but that his gain 

 was not enough to offset the loss occasioned by (1) the hard term's 

 work, which, as in the case of the other men, was a decided handicap, 

 and (2) the omission of his customary exercises, which must have 



Trans. Conn. Acad., Vol. XIII. 3 May, 1907. 



