14 Fisher — The Effect of Diet on Endurance. 



into the system of a larger amount of poisons. The length of time of 

 retention of the feces was not measured in any way. So far as can be 

 guessed from the impressions of the men, it was not lengthened, cer- 

 tainly not greatly, as in the case of ]Mr. Fletcher. ' As to the sig- 

 nificance of the improvement in feces, Dr. Rettger writes : 



"The subject of intestinal putrefaction is one of which very little 

 is as yet known. A retention of feces may have the tendency of 

 lowering the amount of putrefactive products. This is due, I believe, 

 to two things : first, an absorption of such products as indol and 

 mercaptan ; and second, an unusual amount of antagonistic action 

 exerted on the evil-producing (putrefactive) bacteria by the ordinary 

 and presumably he]{)ful bactei'ia. Recent work seems strongly to 

 emphasize the latter point. . . There is nothing to show that a 

 small degree of retention would make a very great difference. 



" The absence of appreciable amounts of putrefactive bodies from 

 feces under the ordinary conditions of peristalsis does, beyond a 

 doubt, indicate a lessened i:)roduction of the products (toxines) ; the 

 system must be the better off on account of this . . . the inter- 

 pretation of the facts must be dealt with rather cautiously." 



The following table shows the body-weights of the men (after 

 deducting weight of clothing). 



TABLE IX. 

 BODY-WEIGHTS IN POUNDS (without clothing) 



B E Lq Lw M P E T W Average 



Jan. 14 148 127 147 153 141 144 170 lafi 153 149.8 



Mar. 28 144 128 147 154 142 136 176 155 151 148 



June 16 138 122 146 149 138 131 175 148 149 144 



We see that during the first period, the weights, except of P., 

 remained practically stationary, but that in the second period all of 

 the men lost somewhat in weight, though the loss was trifling in most 

 cases. The only substantial losses during the two periods combined 

 were : P. 13 lbs., B. 10 lbs., and T. 8 lbs. Of these it may be said 

 that B. was distinctly over his normal weight at the start. 



The distinct correlation between the loss of weight and the reduction 

 in food, and to some extent in proteid, has already been noted. P.'s 

 loss is ascribable largely to overstudy. The general slight reduction 

 in weight of the entire club is probably explained in the same way, 

 for all the men, with possibly two exceptions, distinctly overstrained 



' See The A. B.-Z. of our own Nutrition. 



