The Living Machine 289 



Concerning the second experiment above mentioned Profes- 

 sor Chittenden says: "Here, again, we see that a relatively 

 small intake of proteid food will not only bring about and 

 maintain nitrogen eqnilibrium for many months, and probably 

 indefinitely, but that such a form of diet is equally as effective 

 with vigorous athletes, accustomed to strenuous muscular ef- 

 fort, as with professional men of more sedentaiy habits. Fur- 

 ther, these many months of observation with different individ- 

 uals all lead to the opinion that there are no harmful results of 

 any kind produced by a reduction in the amount of proteid 

 food to a level commensurate with the actual needs of the 

 body. Body-weight, health, physical strength, and muscular 

 tone can all be maintained, in partial illustration of which 

 may be offered two photogi*aphs of one of the eight athletes 

 taken toward the end of the experiment; pictures which are 

 certainly the antithesis of enfeebled muscular structure, or 

 diminished physical vigor." 



Similar results have been obtained with professional men. 

 Altogether they show very conclusively the possibility of not 

 only maintaining, but also of improving human health with 

 a diet relatively low in proteid matter. 



What now will be the result if an animal, which in its 

 natural state was exclusively carnivorous, and even in domes- 

 tication is still largely so, be fed on a proteid-poor diet? 

 Some of the earlier experimenters in Europe found that a 

 reduction in the meat of a dog's diet resulted in gastro- 

 intestinal disturbance followed by death. These experiments 

 however were conducted with dogs kept in close confinement 

 and as Chittenden says "It is doubtful if there is full appre- 

 ciation of the possible effect of monotony, in the ordinary 

 dietary experiments on dogs. Man quickly feels the effect; 

 the sportsman camping in the woods by brook or lake enjoys 

 his first meal of speckled trout and has no thought of ever 

 becoming tired of such a delicacy; but as trout cooked in 

 various ways continue to be placed before him three times a 

 day, and with perhaps very little else, he soon passes into a 

 frame of mind where salt pork would be a luxury, and where 

 he would prefer to go hungry rather than eat the delicacy, 

 if indeed he has appetite to eat anything. Is it strange that 

 dogs confined in cages barely large enough to permit of their 

 turning around, and fed day after day and month after 

 month with exactly the same amount of desiccated meat, fat, 

 and rice, should show signs and symptoms, if nothing worse, 

 of disturbed nutrition? It is necessary in experiments of 

 this kind that the animals be confined for given periods, at 

 least. ... It is possible, however, to limit the time of close 

 confinement to, say, ten consecutive days, this to be followed 



