LOW PROTEIN DIETARY IN THE TROPICS 161 



Eurasian, unless properly fed, does not develop physically into 

 a type much superior to the average Bengali. The conditions 

 are, as a rule, very complex, many of the Eurasians of Calcutta 

 being the descendants of mixed marriages between the Portu- 

 guese, French, and either native or Eurasian women. " Taking 

 the native Christian and Eurasian population as a whole (though 

 race cannot be invoked in the case of the former), the death-rate 

 is almost invariably lower than that of the general native popu- 

 lation. It is probable that the nature and variety of the food 

 play a considerable part in the production of these results."* 



The diets on which these two classes lived while in residence 

 were as follows : 



BENGALI^STUDENTS. 



Protein . . 67-11 grms. | 



Carbohydrates 548*73 V Heat value, 3,100 calories, 



Fat .. .. 71-55 J 



about 9*3 grms., or 14 per cent., of the protein being of animal origin. 



EURASIAN STUDENTS. 



Protein . . 94-97 grms. ] 



Carbohydrates 467-00 \ Heat value, 2,830 calories, 



Fat .. .. 56-20 J 



about 42 grms., or almost 40 per cent., of the protein being derived from an 

 animal source, and more than half of the remaining quantity coming from 

 wheat. 



From the details, published in the memoirf recording these 

 observations, it was shown that the Bengali students attain a 

 level of protein metabolism corresponding to the interchange 

 of 0-148 gramme nitrogen per kilo of body weight, while the 

 Eurasian students showed 0-203 gramme nitrogen, undergoing 

 metabolism for the same unit of tissue. 



We have, therefore, two classes to contrast, represented by 

 568 Bengali and 126 Eurasian students, each class on a known 

 diet, each entering college in their seventeenth or eighteenth 

 year of age, living under exactly similar conditions as to the 

 climate, surroundings, and work, and each kept under medical 

 supervision during college life. The data obtained from year 

 to year afford reliable information concerning the degree of 

 physical development attained by the two classes. 



This, in turn, will give us a trustworthy test of the adequacy 

 or otherwise of the dietaries as a whole, and more particularly 

 the carbohydrate and fatty elements being admittedly sufficient 



* " Imperial Gazetteer of India," vol. i. 



t Scientific Memoirs, Government of India, No. 34, pp. 49 and 57. 



