THE EFFECT OF A STRICTLY VEGETABLE DIET ON 

 THE SPONTANEOUS ACTIVITY, THE RATE 

 OF GROWTH, AND THE LONGEVITY 

 OF THE ALBINO RAT* 



INTRODUCTION. 



The study of dietetics today occupies one of the most important 

 places in the field of physiological investigation. Many popular arti- 

 cles have appeared in the past few years advocating this or that diet 

 as best adapted to the needs of man. The argument is usually based 

 on the personal opinion of the writer or the effects a certain diet may 

 have had upon him. The personal idiosyncrasies which appear in 

 these articles are too numerous to mention. Such writings are of no 

 scientific value, and only show the trend of a certain class of people. 



In contrast to these popular articles appear the writing of various 

 scientific men giving the results of their investigations. These results 

 are based on the comparative digestibility and absorption of the diff- 

 erent foods and upon their ability to maintain nitrogenous equilibrium 

 in the animal experimented upon. 



The tendency of humanity is to go to the extremes, and nowhere 

 is this more manifested than in dietetics. One class, vegetarians, main- 

 tains that man should abstain exclusively from animal foods, the other 

 class claims that the human alimentary tract is more adapted to omni- 

 vorous food than to a strictly vegetable diet. 



Vegetarianism as used by most people is a misnomer. The larger 

 proportion of the so-called vegetarians partake freely of such animal 

 foods as milk, eggs, butter, cheese and the like. A few, the fruitarians, 

 live wholly on nuts and fresh fruits. Another small group live on nuts, 

 fruits, legumes and vegetables, either in the raw or cooked state. The 

 much larger number of vegetarians (?) live on a mixed diet which dif- 

 fers from the ordinary mixed diet in only one respect — the absence of 

 meat. 



Most investigators have studied the effects of a certain diet on the 

 animal for a limited time, which in most cases is insufficient to warrant 



*From the Physiological Laboratories of Stanford University. 



