114 PHYSIOLOGY CHAP. 



It is probably an arbitrary interpretation of empirical facts, which 

 may be accounted for more simply as the results of temperance. 

 The formation of uric acid is lessened, not by the substitution of 

 vegetable for animal proteins, but rather by the smaller quantity 

 taken daily, as is clearly proved by Chittenden's experiments. 

 The question is, however, sufficiently interesting to form the 

 subject of further investigations into the physiological properties 

 of the different groups into which animal and vegetable proteins 

 may be divided. 



(5) Another argument in favour of vegetarianism is that 

 vegetable foods, being extremely rich in dynamogenic substances 

 (carbohydrates), are specially fitted to sustain human muscular 

 labour. There is some truth in the statement. Caspari discusses in 

 detail the case studied by him in relation to a long distance walking 

 match from Dresden to Berlin (202 kilometres), which was won 

 by a young vegetarian, who accomplished the distance in 26 hours 

 and 58 minutes. But if this and other undeniable facts, such as 

 the great powers of resistance shown by the Japanese army during 

 the Russo-Japanese War, point to the desirability of a predominantly 

 starchy diet, they contain nothing to prove the theory that a 

 purely vegetable diet is preferable to a mixed one. 



(c) Another argument in favour of vegetarianism is the 

 economic factor, which must not be underrated from the social 

 point of view ; a vegetable diet sufficient to support active life costs 

 considerably less. A large part, however, of the alleged saving 

 disappears if we take into consideration the fact that intelligent 

 selection, careful cooking, and the correct addition of flavouring 

 to render such a diet appetising and stimulating to the nervous 

 system are essential, if we are to avoid the drawbacks of a purely 

 vegetable diet. On the other hand, if we add to the vegetable diet 

 those animal products which are within the reach of all, such as 

 milk, cheese, lard, and eggs, we obtain a diet only slightly more 

 expensive, and one which avoids in a very simple way all the 

 drawbacks of strict vegetarianism. Such a diet forms the fare of 

 fast days among Catholic, Mahommedan, and Buddhist religious 

 orders, and yields, as Gautier remarks, " the advantages of both 

 the ordinary mixed diet and strict vegetarianism." This is the 

 conclusion to which I myself have come on the subject of 

 vegetarianism. 



VI. Having considered at length the question of the nutrition 

 best suited to the adult leading a normal active life, it only 

 remains to add some remarks with regard to the variations in the 

 diet determined by sex, the anaplastic phase or stage of growth, 

 and the cataplastic stage or old age. 



It is generally admitted that a woman requires considerably 

 less food than a man, and this difference is supposed to be due 

 to the fact that her body weighs 30-40 per cent less than his. 



