152 THE PROTEIN ELEMENT IN NUTRITION 



" Except in the rice-growing countries, millets form the chief 

 foods of the population throughout almost the whole of India. 

 Pulses of various kinds are largely consumed. Little or no meat 

 is eaten by the poorer classes ; meat is, however, commonly eaten 

 by Mohammedans, and many of the Hindus who abstain from it 

 do so because it is an expensive luxury rather than from religious 

 scruples. 



" The chief agricultural staples of Northern India are wheat 

 and barley. They occupy nearly 60 per cent, of the whole food- 

 producing area in the United Provinces. Wheat in the Punjab 

 is a still more important crop than in the United Provinces. It 

 is also extensively grown in parts of Central India, Northern 

 Deccan, and Bombay, and in those countries, as well as in 

 Northern India, it forms the chief articles of diet among the 

 richer classes. Barley is largely consumed by those who cannot 

 afford to eat wheat."* 



In the preceding chapters it has been recognized that it is 

 quite possible to maintain life, a certain degree of health, and a 

 large measure of muscular strength, on dietaries whose protein 

 content is considerably below the ordinary standards. 



When it was discovered that the teeming millions of Bengal 

 attained to a level of protein metabolism little more than one- 

 third of that provided in Voit's standard, it appeared as if there 

 was nothing more to be said on the subject, and that Chittenden's 

 conclusions, based on the results of laboratory experiments, and 

 carried out under somewhat artificial conditions, must be ac- 

 cepted as directly applicable to man under natural conditions 

 and over the whole period of life. 



This was freely admitted at the time, and it was pointed out 

 that, so far as the knowledge derived from the analyses of the 

 urine goes, it bears out in every detail all that Chittenden had 

 contended for viz., the feasibility of maintaining the body in a 

 condition of nitrogenous equilibrium indefinitely on a diet whose 

 protein value is one-third of that usually accepted as necessary 

 for the needs of the system. 



On turning, however, from a contemplation of the mere 

 figures roughly representing the level of nitrogenous metabolism to 

 a study of the people from whom the figures were obtained, other, 

 and more important, points of view were forced on our attention. 



* Strachey, "India, its Administration and Progress." 



