Read and Wang: Metabolism i 



1:53 



jects examined, the values for total nitrogen per kilogram of 

 body weight would appear much lower still; namely, 132 for 

 Chinese (Table 2) and 0.169 for Chinese (Table 3). Until 

 further evidence is available we are led to support Campbell's 

 and McCay's view that races who live for generations on low 

 protein diet do not have the physique and energy of those whose 

 diet contains more protein, especially protein from meat. With 

 our present limited knowledge of the exact amino-acid content 

 of our protein foodstuffs, any chance diet low in protein content 

 is not likely adequately to care for the body's needs. The 

 general lassitude of the people; their lack of initiative; their 

 apathy in face of famines and floods, plagues, poverty, and 

 military oppression appear to originate as much in poor diet 

 as in political or educational poverty. Campbell (4) has attrib- 

 uted these defects to the bulk and indigestibility of the vegetable 

 protein food, and to the tropical climate that induces men to 

 work less and to desire less food. The latter factor certainly 

 does not influence the northern Chinese, who experience very 

 cold winters. They are industrious and consume large amounts 

 of cereal food, because there are no good dairy farms to provide 

 better food; and communications are so poor that they cannot 

 look abroad for adequate provision for their needs. 



Urea nitrogen.— Neale'sUD observations show the urea nitro- 

 gen to be about 21.87 grams in twenty-four hours. His results 

 were based on determinations made by the bromine method, 

 which is so unreliable as to admit of no discussion ; the results 

 from this method are usually too high. Our results are in 

 accord with those of Campbell, showing that Folin's(7) 

 estimate of about 79 per cent of the total nitrogen is the normal 

 amount to be expected when the total nitrogen output falls to 

 from 7 to 8 grams. However, our determinations, accurately 

 made upon convalescent patients, show an extremely low per- 

 centage (see our discussion of ammonia nitrogen) . In any case, 

 no clinician should take the normal European standard as repre- 

 senting a Chinese standard. 



Ammonia nitrogen. — Folin(8) observes that, when the total 

 nitrogen excretion is only from 7 to 8 grams, the ammonia 

 nitrogen forms about 5 per cent. Campbell, (5) using Malfatti's 

 method, obtained higher percentages indicative of an acidosis 

 which he attributed to a disturbance of metabolism caused by 

 the hot moist air of the Tropics. In Peking, where the long 

 winters are very cold and dry, we obtained even higher values 

 for ammonia nitrogen. In the case of the convalescent patients 



