62 THE PROTEIN ELEMENT IN NUTRITION 



intake of nitrogen derived from dal, no increase in nitrogenous 

 metabolism accompanied an augmentation of the nitrogen 

 presented in the form of pulse. Thus 



Batches of five men under observation for five days on each 

 separate diet : 



Nitrogen of f N. of arhar dal . . 150-10 grms. showed 196-25 grms. absorbed, 



rice and | N. of massur dal 188-40 ,, ,, 198-60 ,, 



vegetables + 1 N. of massur dal 171-30 ,, 198-13 



constant. IN. of mung dal .. 160-81 ,, ,, 193-54 ,, 



Other results were found to corroborate the above finding. 

 Thus 



A large number of feeding experiments have been made on 

 Indian prisoners to determine the protein absorption from some 

 of the more common pulses in use. So long as the same sample 

 of dal was adhered to, very uniform results were obtained ; but 

 samples of the same pulses sometimes showed considerable 

 variations in protein content in the several gaols where investiga- 

 tions were carried out, so that an accompanying variation in the 

 coefficient of protein absorption was only to be expected. As 

 in the case of wheat, it was only with difficulty that good clean 

 samples of the several dais could be obtained, the usual condition 

 met with being a mixture of several varieties, and in the ordinary 

 gaol stock other types of seeds occurred that did not belong to the 

 lentils at all. Thus, the results* obtained for the absorption of 

 protein in the different gaols were 



BENARES GAOL. 



Protein absorption from gram dal . . No. 27 shows 61-8 per cent. 



,, 28 ,, 60-9 

 ,, arhar dal and! 9ft R . , 



vegetables f " 28 " 

 ,, arhar dal and\ on M .r\ 



vegetables / " ' 



* Scientific Memoirs, Indian Government, No. 48. Numbers refer to the 

 experiment^. 



