med to
high-protein and full-flesh dietary; second, athletes accustomed to a
low-protein and non-flesh dietary; third, sedentary persons accustomed
to a low-protein and non-flesh dietary. The subjects consisted of Yale
students and instructors, a Connecticut physician, and several other
physicians and nurses. All of the low-protein and non-flesh subjects
except one had abstained from flesh foods for periods of 4 to 20 years,
and 5 of them had never eaten such foods.

The experiments furnished a severe test of the claims of the
flesh-abstainers. Two comparisons were planned, one between flesh-eating
athletes and flesh-abstaining athletes, and the other between
flesh-eating athletes and flesh-abstaining sedentary workers. The
results would indicate that the users of low-protein and the non-flesh
dietaries have far greater endurance than those who are accustomed to
the ordinary American diet.

In the absence of any exact mechanical method of measuring endurance,
simple endurance tests were employed, such as holding the arms
horizontally as long as possible and deep knee bending. The tests were
made before witnesses.

The comparison for arm holding shows a great superiority on the side of
the flesh-abstainers. Only 2 of the 15 flesh-eaters succeeded in holding
their arms out over a quarter of an hour, whereas 22 of the 32
abstainers surpassed that limit. None of the flesh-eaters reached half
an hour, but 15 of the 32 abstainers exceeded that limit. Of these 9
exceeded an hour, 4 exceeded 2 hours and 1 exceeded 3 hours.

In respect to deep knee bending, if we take the number 325 for
reference, we find that, of the 9 flesh-eaters only 3 surpassed this
figure, while of the 21 abstainers, 17 surpassed it. Only 1 of the 9
flesh-eaters reached 1,000 as against 6 of the 21 abstainers. None of
the former surpassed 2,000 as against 2 of the latter.

Similar results have been found in other investigations. It is probable
that the inferiority of meat-eaters in staying power is due primarily to
high protein, not to meat _per se_.

In 1906, nine Yale students under the direction of one of the authors
experimented with Mr. Horace Fletcher's method of thorough mastication
and instinctive eating. The experiment began with an endurance test on
January 14, and consisted mainly of two parts, each of which lasted
about ten weeks.

The object of the first half of the experiment was to test the claims
which have been made as to the effe