NUTRITION AND GROWTH 



579 



The important fact demonstrated by these experiments, is that cer- 

 tain diets are adequate for the maintenance of life although they are 

 inadequate for growth. In conformity with this conclusion, it was found 

 when young white rats were fed with gliadin alone for periods of time ex- 



Fig. 185. Photographs of rats of same brood on perfect diet (uppermost picture) ; on a main- 

 tenance diet but inadequate for growth (middle picture) ; and on a diet that was inadequate both 

 for maintenance and growth. (From Mendel and Osborne.) 



ceeding those in which they should have become full grown, that 

 they remained in an ungrown stunted condition. The capacity to grow 

 had not, however, been lost, for when the gliadin was replaced by milk, 

 the animals resumed growth at a very great rate. The capacity to grow 



