182 THE PROTEIN ELEMENT IN NUTRITION 



exertion, and a distinctly greater degree of vivacity, tonicity, 

 and energy. The body weight, and what is really of most 

 importance, the actual quantity of protoplasmic tissue, is also on 

 a higher scale of development. The evidence shows that the 

 Behari is a stronger, healthier, and more capable individual in 

 every respect than the Bengali, when the same classes of each, 

 such as the working classes, are compared. The only explanation 

 of this finding, from Dr. Kellogg' s standpoint, would be the 

 influence of climate. Behar is drier than Bengal, has a lower 

 temperature in the cold season, but is much hotter in the 

 summer. 



The differences in climate, however, are only marked between 

 the extremes of Bengal and Behar, whereas whenever we find a 

 change from a diet of rice and dal to one containing wheat 

 in addition, the superiority of the Behari at once becomes 

 evident. 



The same condition is met with in contrasting the rice-eating 

 Bengali with those of the more eastern parts of the province, 

 where fish forms an important element in the dietary. In this 

 comparison even the influence of a slight difference in climate is 

 eliminated, as the eastern districts are even more moist than 

 those around Calcutta. 



All the factors that Kellogg lays stress on are present in 

 Behar, Lower Bengal, and Eastern Bengal, and yet it is well 

 recognized that the Behari and native of Eastern Bengal is a 

 much superior man physically to the inhabitant of the Presidency 

 districts. The only explanation that will withstand the test of 

 critical observation is that based on differences in diet. This 

 difference is the substitution of a certain amount of wheat for 

 rice in the case of the Behari, and of wheat and fish in the case of 

 the people of Eastern Bengal, or translated into its ultimate 

 effects the metabolism of from 8 to 9 grammes of nitrogen daily 

 for the average Behari and Eastern Bengali, in place of a 

 metabolism of from 6 to 7 grammes of nitrogen for the rice- 

 eating inhabitant of Lower Bengal and Orissa. 



It may be concluded, therefore, that, so far as the evidence 

 obtained by contrasting the different classes of Bengalis, and 

 Bengalis of the same race, but living in different districts and on 

 different scales of nutrition, goes, diet and the level of protein 

 interchange play the principal part in the formation of their 

 respective characteristics, and is the principal factor in the 



