624 GENERAL METABOLISM [CH. XLT. 



certain as is the fact that one and one make two. It is quite conceiv- 

 able that his body may not have lost weight, but nevertheless fat 

 may have disappeared, and been replaced by an equivalent weight 

 of water, and excess of carbohydrate food which usually is a char- 

 acter of the diets of such people is just the sort of diet likely to 

 cause retention of water in the body. 



We have in our mention of the Chittenden diet alluded to 

 several circumstances that should make us pause before we accept 

 his conclusions to the full. Many people eat too much ; would it be 

 advisable for us all to eat too little, and is Chittenden's diet too 

 scanty ? 



No doubt the over-eaters would benefit by eating too little for a 

 time. They would give their overtaxed digestive and secretory 

 organs a necessary rest, and have time to consume some of their 

 accumulated stores of material. It is quite possible that the benefit 

 noticed in some of the subjects of Chittenden's experiments might 

 have been due to such a circumstance as this, or to the regular life 

 they were compelled to live, quite apart from diet altogether. But 

 to eat too little as an ordinary and permanent thing is quite another 

 matter ; and it is interesting to be able to record that most of the 

 subjects of Chittenden's experiments have now returned to their 

 previous dietetic habits. 



So far as it is possible to read history correctly, man has always, 

 where he can, taken instinctively more protein than Chittenden 

 would allow him, and with few exceptions, the meat-eating nations 

 are those which have risen to the front. 



So far as it is possible to draw correct deductions on questions of 

 diet from animals to man, a restricted diet over a long period has 

 proved detrimental. Moreover, a careful study of Chittenden's own 

 analytical figures, such as Benedict has made, shows there was in 

 some cases distinct impairment of health. 



But still the question remains, why an apparently large excess of 

 nitrogen which the body casts out within a few hours should be 

 advisable ? The answer to this appears to be, that though most of 

 the cleavage products are dealt with in this way, there are some 

 which are especially precious for tissue reconstruction, and it is for 

 these that we put up with the excess of waste. The large size 

 and activity of the normal liver seem to be for the express purpose 

 of dealing with this waste rapidly. 



Nature does not work in minimums : Leathes puts it very well 

 when he says it is not considered unphysiological to take more food 

 than ^will yield the minimum of faecal refuse ; and he also points out 

 that in the infant, even allowing for its growth, the normal amount 

 of milk provided for it by nature is ten times greater than would 

 appear to be the necessary minimum ; and this is probably a safer 



