156 



THE PROTEIN ELEMENT IN NUTRITION 



requirements of the body viz., 0-12 gramme of nitrogen. 

 " These are perfectly trustworthy figures with a reasonable 

 margin of safety, and carrying perfect assurance of really being 

 more than sufficient to meet the true wants of the body, adequate 

 to supply all physiological demands for reserve protein, and able 

 to cope with the erratic requirements of personal idiosyncrasies."* 

 In dealing with the evidence of the effects of diets poor in protein, 

 we shall make use of the memoirs already published on the 

 subject, f 



1 . The Evidence afforded by a Study of the Urine and Blood. 



Extensive observations were made on the chemical composition 

 of the urine and blood of Bengalis. At first the question was 

 taken up as a matter of urgent clinical importance to obtain 

 reliable standards for the normal quantities of the different 

 constituents, in order that rational deductions could be drawn 

 when any gross departure from the normal was met with in 

 pathological conditions. 



Marked differences were obtained as compared with the 

 standards given for Europeans in the ordinary textbooks. 



The following tables show the results arrived at : 



THE URINE. 



Very decided differences were therefore found to exist between 

 the urine of the Bengali and that of the European. The im- 

 portant of these are The lower specific gravity, the very much 

 less quantity of urea and of total nitrogen, and the higher 

 freezing-point, owing to the smaller quantities of different salts. 



* Chittenden, loc. cit. 



t Scientific Memoirs, Government of India, Nos. 34, 37, and 48. 



