LOW PROTEIN DIETARY IN THE TROPICS 171 



four or five years in another college in Calcutta. A full account* 

 has already been published ; it is, therefore, unnecessary to 

 enter into details. The facts are : These students enter as 

 mere boys of up to sixteen years of age ; during the four years 

 or so of residence they develop into strong, healthy men, quite 

 up to the average European standard in physique. Their 

 dietary permits of a metabolism of 0-196 gramme nitrogen per 

 kilo of body weight daily. Contrasted with their native fellow- 

 students who live on a much lower protein dietary, the account 

 already given of their marked success in the intercollegiate 

 athletic sports, and the fact that, although few in number 

 compared with the number of Bengali students, the college 

 team was almost entirely selected from them, make abundantly 

 obvious the determining influence of diet, and particularly pro- 

 tein on the growth and well-being of mankind. The two classes 

 enter college about the same age, live in the same climate and 

 under very similar conditions ; further, as we pointed out some 

 years ago, and this has been corroborated by Dr. Caddy's figures, 

 there is no racial reason why the Bengali, if he were properly 

 fed, should not be as well developed and as efficient as the 

 Eurasian ; the results, however, at the end of their college 

 career are very different. 



We may conclude, therefore, that whether we compare the 

 average Bengali with the European, Eurasian, or with the 

 Bengali who obtains a fairly liberal allowance of protein ; 

 whether we contrast students living under similar conditions, ex- 

 cept those pertaining to diet ; whether we study the physical de- 

 velopment of the Bengali, his endurance, capacity for work, or 

 expectation of life the results of observation and investigation 

 all point in the same direction. The evidence forces on us the 

 practical lesson that the generally accepted level of nitrogenous 

 interchange cannot be decreased to any appreciable extent 

 without damage to the growth, maintenance, and repair of the 

 protoplasmic tissues, and a lowering of the general efficiency and 

 well-being of the body. 



4. The Resisting Power to Disease and Infection. 



Chittenden holds that the smallest amount of food that will 

 serve to maintain bodily and mental vigour, keep up bodily 

 strength, and preserve the normal power of resistance to disease, 



* Scientific Memoirs, Government of India, pp. 53 to 56. 



