In illustration of these statements, we have some recent results obtained by Watson and Hunter[71] upon the influence of diet on growth and nutrition. These investigators find that young rats--two and a half months old--when fed upon a diet composed exclusively of horse-flesh, which is chiefly proteid matter with some fat, succumb very quickly, for some reason. Of fourteen young rats fed on this meat diet, six died on the third day. On the morning of this day, as the authors state, “the rats appeared to be in their usual health, but an hour after feeding one of them was lying on its side apparently unconscious. In a few minutes others were affected. They appeared to be paralyzed, they felt cold to the touch, exhibited symptoms of tetany, and speedily became unconscious. Six succumbed within half-an-hour. Of the remainder, some showed similar symptoms, although in less degree, and they recovered when the diet was changed to bread and skim milk.” After two days of the so-called normal diet, composed of bread and skim milk, the remaining eight rats were again placed on an exclusive meat diet. They appeared now to have acquired a certain degree of immunity, for although they exhibited symptoms of deranged nutrition, these were gradually recovered from and they gained in weight. At the end of the eighth month, five of the animals were still alive and in apparent good health, but their growth was permanently stunted. With an exclusive diet of ox-flesh, young rats were much more liable to thrive, although their growth was distinctly retarded. [71] Chalmers Watson, M.D., and Andrew Hunter, M.B.: Observations on Diet. The Influence of Diet on Growth and Nutrition. Journal of Physiology, Vol. XXXIV, p. 112, 1906. This difference in the behavior of the animals towards the two forms of proteid food is to be attributed to the fact that ox-flesh contains more fat than horse-flesh, and consequently the diet with this form of meat was less exclusively proteid in character. Further, there were some indications that horse-flesh is less digestible than ox-flesh. Another fact, showing the far-reaching effect of a distinctly unphysiological diet, is the marked influence of pure meat food on the progeny. Thus, of 93 rats born of meat-fed parents only 19 were alive at the end of two months, while of 97 young born of bread and milk-fed rats, 82 were alive and in apparent health at the end of the same period.