BORIC ACID AND BORAX. 123 



decrease in the body weight during the preservative period, the aver- 

 age weight having fallen from 61.76 kilograms to 61.20. During the 

 after period there was_ a tendency again for the body weight to rise, 

 it having reached an average of 61.23 at the end of the after period. 



Too much importance must not be attached to the above data, by 

 reason of the fact that the total water consumed, both that existing in 

 the food and that taken separately, has been considered as food itself. 

 It is true that water is, in one sense, the most important food for the 

 sustenance of the human body, without which all the physiological 

 functions of the body would cease. It is, however, also true that 

 water is one of the important products of metabolic activity, being, in 

 conjunction with carbon dioxid, the principal product of that combus- 

 tion which produces and sustains the animal heat. From this point 

 of view the water may be regarded as a waste product of food as well 

 as a food itself. 



A more valuable comparison of the average weight of food con- 

 sumed to the average weight of the body may be secured by reducing 

 the food to a dry basis. In Table XIX is given a comparative state- 

 ment showing the relation of the weight of dry food to body weight, 

 as compared with the moist food, during the first series of experiments. 

 These data are interesting, but it does not seem advisable to increase 

 the bulk of the bulletin by computing them for each series. It is a 

 matter of considerable interest, however, to note that the average 

 weight of dry food consumed is almost exactly 1 per cent of the 

 weight of the body. In the fore period it is seen that the smallest 

 percentage of food consumed in relation to the weight of the body is 

 by No. 6, namely, 0.79, and the largest by No. 3, namely, 1.21, while 

 the average percentage for the whole fore period of the six men under 

 observation is 0.96. Taken as a whole, the average quantity of food 

 consumed in relation to body weight during the preservative period is 

 0.99 per cent of the average body weight. The smallest quantity con- 

 sumed in any instance is by No. 1, in the third subperiod, namely, 

 0.83 per cent, and the largest quantity is by No. 5, in the second sub- 

 period, namely, 1.25 per cent. In the after period the mean quantity 

 of dry food consumed in relation to body weight is 1.01 per cent. 

 The smallest quantity is consumed by Nos. 1 and 2, namely, 0.92 per 

 cent, and the largest quantity by No. 3, namely, 1.20 per cent. 



It is seen that but little change is shown in the total weight of dry 

 food consumed in relation to body weight in the three periods. The 

 data show the interesting fact in nutrition that healthy young men in 

 one hundred d&ys will eat an amount of dry food almost exactly equal 

 to the weight of their bodies. It is also interesting to note that the 

 daily ratio of moist food consumed, including the water drunk, is a 

 little more than four times as great as that of the dry food. 



