110 



PHYSIOLOGY 



CHAP. 



second was 109'23 grms. and during the third 122*96 grms., it 

 will readily be seen that the results are not comparable. On the 

 other hand the period of vegetable nutrition was too short for 

 nitrogenous equilibrium to be attained, seeing that Mori was not 

 used to the vegetable diet of his peasant compatriots. The same 

 objections may be made to the experiments carried out in Germany 

 in 1889 by Kumagawa, another Japanese who was anxious to 

 compare upon himself the effects of vegetable and mixed diets. 

 Unlike Mori, in nine days of vegetarian diet, cooked in the 

 Japanese fashion, he not only attained nitrogenous equilibrium, 

 but succeeded in retaining 0'65 grm. a day, while only taking 

 an average of 8*75 grms. daily ( = 55 of protein), i.e. a smaller 

 quantity than that taken by Mori. 



Of greater interest are the researches carried out at Tokyo by 

 Taniguti (1892) on a vegetable diet based upon rice. The problem 

 to be solved was whether it was desirable to continue the existing 

 diet of the Japanese army, or to introduce certain changes into 

 it. Taniguti ascertained the exchange of material of Japanese 

 villagers by a series of experiments. We omit the results of the 

 first series, because Liebig's meat extract was added to the rice diet 

 as a relish or corrective. In the later series he tried a diet of rice 

 and other vegetables chosen by the subject, the total energy-value 

 varying from 2777 to 2790 calories. 



The results obtained are shown in the following table : 



In all the periods with the exception of the first, during which 

 the subject of the experiment made the change from the habitual 

 mixed diet to a purely vegetable one, a more or less important 

 amount of nitrogen was retained. The fact should also be noted 

 that the vegetable protein was readily digested and utilised, a fact 

 which may be attributed to the wise choice of articles of food and 

 the suitable way in which they were cooked. 



Similar results were obtained by Eumpf and Schumm (1909) 

 in their investigations on the exchange of material in a vegetarian 

 of eighteen years of age, weighing 65'5 kgrms., who lived on 

 brown bread, rice, nuts, dates, and sugar. The experiments lasted 



