Three methods of estimating the increase of endurance between January and June were used. These may be put together in the following table:
| Average Six Tests. | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| B | E | Lq. | Lw. | M | P | R | T | W |
| 85 | 13 | 194 | 95 | 212 | 56+ | 73 | 66 | 109 |
| Omitting Doubtful Cases “+” | ||||||||
| 84+ | ... | 84+ | 181 | 29+ | 56+ | 89 | 80 | 107+ |
| “Pure” Endurance of Biceps. | ||||||||
| ... | ... | 62 | ... | 50 | ... | 170 | 200 | 100+ |
The first line of this table tells us the average of the recorded improvement in endurance shown for each man. The average of these averages is 101 per cent. for the entire club, and is probably within the truth; for most of the individual figures which go to make up this result are understatements, not overstatements.
The second line shows the average improvement in tests in which there is no doubt that the figure is at least not too high, though it may be too low. The average of these is 89 per cent., and is therefore certainly too low an estimate of the average improvement for the eight men who improved at all.
The third line shows the increase of pure endurance (that is, endurance considered apart from strength) for the five men for whom the figures were available. The average of these is 116 per cent.
We are quite safe in saying, therefore, that the average improvement of the eight men who improved was 90 per cent.
The phenomena observed during the experiment may be summarized as a slight reduction of total food consumed, a large reduction of the protein element, especially of flesh foods, a lessened excretion of nitrogen, a reduction in the odor, putrefaction, fermentation and quantity of the feces, a slight loss of weight, a slight loss of strength, an enormous increase of physical endurance, a slight increase in mental quickness. These phenomena varied somewhat with different individuals, the variations corresponding in general to the varying degree in which the men adhered to the rules of the experiment.
That we are correct in ascribing the results, especially in endurance, to dietetic causes alone, cannot reasonably be doubted when it is considered that no other factors of known significance were allowed to aid in this result.
While the results of the present experiment lean toward “vegetarianism,” they are only incidentally related to its propaganda. Meat was by no means excluded; on the contrary, the subjects were urged to eat it if their appetite distinctly preferred it to other foods.
The sudden and complete exclusion of meat is not always desirable, unless more skill and knowledge in food matters are employed than most persons possess. On the contrary, disaster has repeatedly overtaken many who have made this attempt. Pavlov has shown that meat is one of the most and perhaps the most “peptogenic” of foods. Whether the stimulus it gives to the stomach is natural, or in the nature of an improper goad or whip, certain it is that some stomachs which are accustomed to this daily whip have failed, for a time at least, to act when it was withdrawn.