THE PROTEIN METABOLISM OF MANKIND 77 



eating Bengali does not obtain more than 55 grammes of 

 protein in his daily food. The nitrogenous metabolism per kilo 

 of body weight of the students and servants examined works 

 out at 0-116 gramme ; the average weight of the Bengali, based 

 on about 30,000 weighments, being 50 to 50 \ kilos. 



It may be pointed out that, so far as information is available, 

 the rice-eating Bengali lives on a poorer protein supply than 

 any of the other races on whom investigations have been carried 

 out. Oshima's observations on the poorer classes in Japan show 

 that the protein metabolism they attain is higher than in the case 

 of the Bengali. In connection with this it is worthy of note that, 

 although the Japanese are considerably smaller in stature than 

 the average Bengali, the average weight of the Japanese is 

 54 to 56 kilos, whilst that of the Bengali is only about 50 kilos. 



The poorer classes in Japan metabolize 0-177 gramme of 

 nitrogen, whilst the average Bengali shows under 0-12 gramme 

 of nitrogen undergoing metabolism per kilo of body weight. If 

 the relative extent of surface of the two types be taken into 

 account, the conditions will be found to be still more favourable 

 to the Japanese than would appear from the above comparison. 



To obtain anything approaching this low level of protein 

 exchange within the body, it is necessary to have recourse to 

 the feeding experiments carried out by Chittenden ; so that 

 the Bengali exemplifies on a large scale the experimental con- 

 ditions Chittenden had to manufacture. From the results of 

 his investigations Chittenden states that the metabolism of 

 0-12 gramme of nitrogen per kilo of body weight per man daily is 

 quite sufficient to satisfy all the demands of the body for protein. 



This is a subject that will require careful consideration later 

 in this volume ; at present it is only necessary to point out that, 

 as the Bengali practically conforms to the standard laid down 

 by Chittenden, he should therefore exhibit those " many 

 suggestions of improvement in bodily health, of greater efficiency 

 in working power, and of greater freedom from disease, in a 

 system of dietetics which aims to meet the physiological needs 

 of the body without undue waste of energy and unnecessary 

 drain upon the functions of digestion, absorption, excretion, and 

 metabolism in general ; a system which recognizes that the 

 smooth running of man's bodily machinery calls for the exercise 

 of reason and intelligence, and is not to be entrusted solely to 

 the dictates of blind instinct or to the leadings of a capricious 



