258 DR. ROBERTS ON THE DIURNAL 
On none of these four days did the urine become alka- 
line either after breakfast or dinner; indeed the hourly 
discharge of acid suffered scarcely an appreciable declen- 
sion after breakfast on the first two days. And through- 
out the entire set, the effect of the meals was strikingly less 
than with mixed food. Small as the effect was however, its 
reality is beyond question; and on the third day, after 
dinner, the depression nearly approached the neutral line. 
T do not lay any stress on the falling off in the acidity per 
1000 parts, because the urine invariably became more 
aqueous after meals, and the falling off in the degree of 
acidity might seem attributable to this cause alone. 
If we compare the hourly discharge of acid with the 
hourly discharge of solids, the depression of acidity after 
the meals, so faintly indicated in the above tables, comes 
out much more strongly, as will be shown hereafter. 
To isolate more completely the operation of vegetable 
food, it was thought desirable to subsist for several days 
continuously on a purely vegetable diet, and to avoid espe- 
cially taking supper on the previous nights. The articles 
of diet used were bread, rice, potatoes, carrots, lettuce and 
endive, with coffee and tea without cream. No alcoholic 
drinks were ever used during these experiments unless 
when specially mentioned. 
