diet was taken twice a day for seven days, and was selected by the subject
as giving sufficient variety for his needs and quite in accord with his
taste. No attempt was made to conform to any given standard of quantity,
but the subject took each day such amounts of the above foods as his
appetite craved. The daily average in grammes was, proteid 44.9 (1.58
ounces), fats 38.0, carbohydrates 253.0, calories 1,606. The total intake
of nitrogen per day was 7.19, while the output was 6.90. It may be asked,
says Professor Chittenden, was this diet at all adequate for the needs of
the body--sufficient for a man weighing 165 pounds? In reply, it may be
said that the appetite was satisfied and that the subject had full freedom
to take more food if he so desired. The body-weight remained practically
constant and the nitrogen of the intake and output were not far apart. An
important point is, can a man on such food be fit for physical work? Mr.
Fletcher was placed under the guidance of Dr. W.G. Anderson, the director
of the gymnasium of Yale University. Dr. Anderson reports that on the four
last days of the experiment, in February, 1903, Mr. Fletcher was given the
same kind of exercises as are given to the 'Varsity crew. They are drastic
and fatiguing and cannot be done by beginners without soreness and pain
resulting. They are of a character to tax the heart and lungs as well as
to try the muscles of the limbs and trunk. "My conclusion, given in
condensed form, is this: Mr. Fletcher performs this work with greater ease
and with fewer noticeable bad results than any man of his age and
condition I have ever worked with." "To appreciate the full significance
of this report, it must be remembered," writes Professor Chittenden, "that
Mr. Fletcher had for several months past taken practically no exercise
other than that involved in daily walks about town." Sir Michael Forster
had Mr. Fletcher and others under observation in his Cambridge
laboratories, and in his report he remarks on the waste products of the
bowel being not only greatly reduced in amount, as might be expected; but
that they are also markedly changed in character, becoming odourless and