Mabch 29, 1907] 



SCIENCE 



497 



supply of food. The presence of an abun- 

 dant supply of glycogen and fat in all 

 animal bodies seems to me to be a sufficient 

 indication that carbohydrates and fats are 

 not supplied on the principle of stringent 

 economy. Fuel material is here abun- 

 dantly stored up not so much for its im- 

 mediate use but essentially for use in un- 

 foreseen exigencies. As far as I know the 

 claim has not yet been raised that these 

 savings deposits are due only to acquired 

 habits of ingesting too much of the men- 

 tioned forms of food. 



With regard to the proteid diet, however, 

 the question of the normal supply, as we 

 have repeatedly mentioned, is not above 

 discussion. In a recent review of the sub- 

 ject by Benedict one of his precise state- 

 ments reads: "dietary studies all over the 

 world show that in communities where 

 productive power, enterprise and civiliza- 

 tion are at their highest, man has in- 

 stinctively and independently selected 

 liberal rather than small quantities of pro- 

 tein." Chittenden, on the other hand, 

 says: "all our (experimental) observa- 

 tions agree in showing that it is quite 

 possible to reduce with safety the extent 

 of proteid catabolism to one third or one 

 half that generally considered essential to 

 life and health." And then adds: "It is 

 obvious * * * that the smallest amount of 

 food that will serve to maintain bodily and 

 mental vigor * * * ig the ideal." As 

 valuable as the facts which Chittenden and 

 his co-laborer found may be, they do not 

 make obvious their theory that the mini- 

 mum supply is the optimum— the ideal. 

 The bodily health and vigor which people 

 with one kidney still enjoy does not make 

 the possesion of only one kidney an ideal 

 condition. The finding that the accepted 

 standard of proteid diet can be reduced 

 to one half can be compared with the find- 

 ing that the inspired oxygen can be re- 

 duced to one half without affecting the 



health and comfort of the individual. 

 But nobody deduces from the latter fact 

 that the breathing of air so rarefied would 

 be the ideal. Chittenden suggests that a 

 greater use of proteid might be the cause 

 of many ills, for instance of gout and even 

 of tuberculosis and cancer. I shall not at- 

 tempt to discuss the merits of this theory 

 as far as the causation of tuberculosis and 

 cancer is concerned. As to the causation 

 of gout, one of Chittenden's most able 

 supporters. Otto Folin, has pointed out 

 that at best this could be claimed only for 

 eating crude meat but not for an ingestion 

 of protein in general, because the latter 

 becomes converted into harmless urea, as 

 Folin says. I would add that if we should 

 avoid eating meat because some of us might 

 sometimes get gout, we should surely avoid 

 eating carbohydrates because it sometimes 

 leads to diabetes, and avoid eating fats 

 because it often leads to various mischiefs. 

 What then shall we eat with absolute im- 

 punity ? 



But I wish to recall here one fact, namely 

 that the administration of too large a dose 

 of thyroid extract leads to a pathological 

 condition similar in character to that of 

 Graves's disease. The normal body never- 

 theless possesses, as we have shown above, 

 a great surplus of thyroid tissue without 

 causing any thyroidism. That some iso- 

 lated metabolic product might do some 

 harm when artificially incorporated into an 

 animal is far from being fair evidence that 

 this normal product of the animal mechan- 

 ism does harm there when in its normal 

 connections. Metabolic products are pres- 

 ent in great abundance in all healthy in- 

 dividuals without causing mischief. 



The situation seems to me to be this. 

 All organs of the body are built on the 

 plan of superabundance of structures and 

 energy. Of the supplies of energy to the 

 animal we see that oxygen is luxuriously 

 supplied. The supply of carbohydrates 



