164 THE PROTEIN ELEMENT IN NUTRITION 



muscle, poorly supplied with blood, and who exhibit defective 

 development ; whilst with a liberal scale of protein intake results 

 the opposite of these are the rule. 



It would further appear, as has been frequently shown in 

 feeding experiments on animals and in man, that general body 

 growth, and, more particularly, growth of the nitrogenous 

 tissues, increases pan passu with the degree of protein meta- 

 bolism per kilo of body weight. Exactly where the line is to be 

 drawn regarding the amount of protein essential in an ideal 

 diet we are unable to say, but we hold that the above figures 

 point undoubtedly to an increase in bodily vigour and develop- 

 ment taking place up to a nitrogenous metabolism of 0-203 

 gramme per kilo of body weight. This would correspond to 

 an interchange, for an average man of 75 kilos, of over 95 grammes 

 protein daily, and would mean a gross intake of over 100 grammes 

 albuminous material in the diet 70 per cent, more protein than 

 Chittenden considers necessary. 



3. The Evidence afforded by a Study of the Physical Development 

 and Endurance, Capacity for Work, and Expectation of 

 Life in the Bengali. 



(a) The Body Weight. From the records of over 2,500 

 observations on the weight of students, the average is just under 

 52 kilos. 



Major Buchanan, I. M.S., made a very large number of weigh- 

 ments of prisoners in the Bengal gaols, from which he shows the 

 average weight to be 110 to 112 pounds (50 to 51 kilos). 



This is about 25 per cent, less than the average weight of 

 the European. The Bengali is not sprung from an under-sized 

 race ; his stature and general build of body-frame compares 

 very favourably with that of Europeans. On the other hand, 

 the spareness and the deficient muscular development of the 

 average worker form a striking contrast to the condition met with 

 in the average European labourer. While it cannot be accepted 

 that a high average body weight is the all-important criterion 

 of physical fitness or power of resisting disease, other things 

 being equal, it will be generally admitted that good muscular 

 development is a desideratum in the efficiency and well-being of 

 a people. In connection with this question, it has been pointed 

 out that a close relationship exists between the physical and 



