Having said so much concerning the Japanese, it is proper that a few additional statements should be made. The stature and general physique of the people could be advantageously improved. Is this a question of dietary, or is it connected with some condition of life on which the daily food has no bearing; or is it, perchance, a racial characteristic so deeply ingrained that conditions of environment are without noticeable influence? These questions cannot be definitely answered at present. Finally, we may call attention to the dietary changes inaugurated in recent years in connection with the new organization of the imperial army and navy. With a view to increasing the efficiency of the men, following the customs of other countries, an act was passed increasing the amount of proteid food in the navy dietary. Oshima’s report of the various steps taken to accomplish this end, with the results that followed, is interesting in several ways. “A large part of the rice was to be replaced by bread, and meats were to be used liberally. The experience, during the first year that this ration was tried, indicated that bread and meat could not be advantageously substituted immediately for the rice, because most of the marines were unaccustomed to these food materials; consequently, a modification of the ration was introduced in 1885, whereby a rice-barley mixture was adopted in place of the bread. Barley was considered at that time as a better article of food than rice, on account of its higher proteid content, but later investigations showed that the digestibility of the nutrients of barley was small. In 1886, an effort was again made to substitute bread for the rice-barley mixture. In 1890, the ration allowance was reduced by one-fifth and an amount of money equivalent to the cost of the reduction in diet was given to each marine with which to buy accessory food according to his own choice. In 1898, the reduction was made one-tenth, instead of one-fifth as in previous years. In 1900, the cash allowance was abolished and a new ration adopted.” This ration contains about 150 grams of proteid (animal and vegetable food) and has a fuel value of over 3000 calories. In all of these changes, the proportion of rice was greatly reduced.