178 THE PKOTEIN ELEMENT IN NUTRITION 



Such are some of the facts gleaned by Major Rogers from the 

 post-mortem records of the Medical College Hospital, Calcutta. 

 They bear out in a most remarkable manner the results of other 

 lines of investigation on the ill- effects to be expected when a 

 tribe or race subsists on the lower limits of protein interchange. 

 The lessened expectation of life, decreased resistance to disease 

 and infection, earlier onset of the marked evidences of tissue 

 degeneration and senility, are conditions that would be antici- 

 pated in a people who exhibit such slackness, want of vigour, 

 tonelessness, general slowness of reaction, and other physio- 

 logical attributes difficult to describe, detect, and measure, which 

 form some of the distinguishing characteristics of the working 

 population of Bengal. Self -absorption, introspection, want of 

 interest in the incidents of everyday life, little power of atten- 

 tion, observation, or concentration of thought these are some of 

 the attributes of all but the better classes and better fed of the 

 Bengalis. 



In the following chapter we shall take up some of the other 

 tribes and races and study the influences of dietaries more liberal 

 in protein on the physical development and general efficiency of 

 their average representatives. 



