72 
Even if it could be proved by a large number of experiments that' 
nitrogen equilibrium can be maintained on a small amount of protein^ 
it would still be a great question whether or not it would be wise to do 
so. There must certainly be a constant effort on the part of the 
human organism to attain this condition, and with a low protein supply 
it might be forced to do so under conditions of strain. In such a case 
the bad results might be slow in manifesting themselves, but might 
also be serious and lasting. It has also been suggested that when 
living at a fairly high protein level the body is more resistant to 
disease and other strains than when the protein level is low. 
AMOUNT OF FECES ON A FRUITARIAN DIET. 
It is interesting in this connection to compare the composition of 
the water-free feces from the digestion experiments here recorded 
with similar data from other sources, as is done in the following table: 
Table 54. — Comparison of composition of water-free feces. 
Whence obtained. 
Nature of diet. 
Weight Nitro- 
of feces, gen. 
Pro- 
Fat, 
| Car- 
bohy- 
drates. 
As]). 
Heat of 
combus- 
tion per 
gram. 
Average 11 experiments; 
subject, W. S. M. 
Average 16 experiments; 
subject, C. P. H. 
Average 2 experiments; 
subject, J. E. R. 
Average 1 experiment; 
subject, A. V. 
Average of above 30 ex- 
periments. 
Average 12 experiments, n. 
Average 14 experiments. l>. 
Average 10 experiments, d. 
Fruitarian. 
do 
do 
do 
do 
Bread and 
Mixed 
Bread and 
milk 
mii'k" 
<<r<iu<.<. 
44. 52 
49.89 
57. GO 
96. 63 
48.30 
65.3 
119.0 
96.4 
Per ct. 
4.23 
4.09 
3.84 
3.87 
4.14 
5.22 
4.87 
3.02 
Per ct. 
26.43 
25. 56 
23.96 
24.18 
25. 88 
31.82 
30.42 
18.89 
Per ct. 
28. 09 
24.61 
35. 23 
23.63 
26. 05 
15. 33 
24. 54 
13.94 
Per ct. 
33.69 
36.48 
30.04 
38.40 
35. 53 
33. 04 
21.75 
37. 42 
Pa- ft. 
11.80 
13. 35 
10.77 
13.79 
12.54 
18.98 
23. 29 
29. 75 
Calories. 
5, 732 
5, 680 
6,328 
5,783 
5, 716 
5,479 
^4,316 
5,568 
«U. S. Dept. Agr., Office of Experiment Stations Bui. 85. 
l> IT. S. Dept. Agr., Office of Experiment Stations Bui. 117. 
c Heat of combustion calculated. 
d\J, S. Dept. Agr., Office of Experiment Stations Bui. 121. 
An examination of the above table shows that the average amount, 
49.38 grams per day, of water-free feces from the 30 digestion experi- 
ments with fruitarian diet is much less than the corresponding amount 
reported for either bread and milk or mixed diet. It is also consider- 
ably below the average weights, 71.16 grams and 56 grams, of water- 
free feces from digestion experiments with vegetarians reported by 
Voit" and Albu^, respectively. 
It will be observed that the feces from the experiments with mixed 
diet and the average from the 12 experiments with bread and milk 
diet are much larger in amount and contain more protein than the 
average of the feces from the fruitarian experiments. The latter, 
however, contain more fat and carbohydrates. 
"Ztschr. Biol., 25 (1889), p. 234. 
fcZtschr. Klin. Med. [Berlin], 43 (1901), p. 75. 
