6 APPLIED PHYSIOLOGY 



It may be possible to live in apparent health on a low 

 protein intake for a long time, but can one do so with 

 impunity always ? It may be true that a luxus con- 

 sumption of protein tends to produce disease, but may 

 an habitually low intake not predispose to diseases of 

 another sort ? To take only two examples, our experi- 

 ence of the treatment of tuberculosis has shown the 

 value of a liberal meat diet in effecting a cure, and it has 

 been found in the Japanese Navy that a liberal protein 

 ration is a prophylactic against the ravages of beri-beri. 

 It may well be, in short, that the supply of a liberal pro- 

 portion of protein is necessary for the proper production 

 of these chemical compounds, which are one of the 

 means by which the body defends itself against invasion 

 by bacteria. Again, it may prove, when the reserve of 

 protein in the body is low as it must be on an habitually 

 low intake that any attack of acute fever will result in 

 too great inroads on the proteins of the fixed tissues, 

 with all the dangers which that entails. These are only 

 some of the considerations which must give us pause in 

 at once applying to practice the results of physiological 

 experiment. Time alone can show whether such objec- 

 tions deserve any weight. Meanwhile every practising 

 physician, by observing how patients who habitually 

 consume little protein resist the attacks of disease and 

 withstand it when attacked, can help to furnish the 

 data which are necessary for a final judgment in -the 

 matter. 



Storage of Surplus Building 1 Material. In any dis- 

 cussion of the conservation of matt er in the body, two 

 influences must be considered : (1) the effect of growth, 



