in THE THEOEY OF HUMAN NUTRITION 99 



Although for some months Fletcher had taken no physical 

 exercise beyond walks in the town, he succeeded, as Anderson tells 

 us in his account, on the 4th, 5th, 6th, and 7th of February, in 

 performing the athletic exercises with astonishing ease and with 

 far less fatigue than is usually felt by persons of his age and 

 condition. 



Chittenden observes, with natural surprise, that in Fletcher's 

 case a very scanty diet, of an energy value equivalent to half that 

 ordinarily required, sufficed to supply the energy necessary for the 

 performance of these exercises, without the organism being forced 

 to draw on any of its reserves, without loss of weight, but rather 

 with a slight retention of nitrogen, without causing exhaustion or 

 any physical suffering whatsoever. Brought face to face with such 

 results he asks : Have we a clear notion of the real requirements 

 of the body with regard to daily nourishment? Do we really 

 follow the best and most economical system for the maintenance 

 of the body in perfect physiological condition ? Should Fletcher's 

 case be regarded as unique, attributable to exceptional slowness in 

 the exchange of material, or can any individual of mature age live 

 for any length of time on a diet of only about half what Voit calls 

 normal, and do so not only without suffering from it, but on the 

 contrary with resulting benefit to his health ? 



Having had the opportunity of studying in Succi a fast of 

 thirty days, during which the daily loss of nitrogen gradually fell 

 from 13 '8 to 4 grms., the subject still remaining in good health 

 and being capable of work, no one can be more inclined than 

 myself to regard Fletcher's case as due to exceptional slowness in 

 the exchange of material and energy brought about by organic 

 conditions gradually acquired by several years of reduced diet. 



Fletcher himself tells us that at the age of forty his state of 

 health had become very unsatisfactory. "He was unable to 

 engage in business, to frequent clubs, or to live the turbulent life 

 of society. Although he had trained as an athlete in his youth, 

 and had every comfort, he got into such a physical state that the 

 insurance companies refused to insure his life. This unexpected 

 disability, with its serious warning for the future, was such a blow 

 to his hopes of long life, that it led him to make a great personal 

 effort to find a way of salvation. . . . Having realised that the 

 break-down of his machine was due to over-eating, he discovered 

 how to cure himself with the help of an economical system of 

 nutrition like that of Luigi Cornaro, 1 and how to obtain with a 



1 Luigi Cornaro, a Venetian nobleman, born 1467, died 1566, and therefore 

 almost a centenarian, lived for many years on an incredibly scanty diet. At the 

 age of eighty-three he wrote a treatise on " The Way to Live Long," followed by 

 other works on the same subject, written at the ages of eighty-six, ninety-one, and 

 ninety-five respectively. "They are written," says Addison, " in a spirit of gaiety, 

 religion, and good sense, which proves that these qualities go hand in hand with 

 temperance and sobriety." 



