Before taking part in the research, each member of both squads was requested to sign the following affidavit:

"The undersigned, being acquainted with the requirements imposed upon all who volunteer to serve as subjects in the war-ration research, promises so far as lies in his power to lend his entire cooperation in minutely and faithfully acquitting himself of all the duties required of him personally for the successful achievement of the research. He further promises his uninterrupted services and cooperation as subject during the entire period of observation. He promises not to eat or drink anything away from the training table, unless special provisions are previously made therefor. If, inadvertently, this rule is broken, he will immediately report all details of the breach, to assist in attempting to correct the error. He will not seek to be released from his responsibilities as subject until the completion of the research, unless compelled to do so by major causes, such causes to be declared justifiable by a committee of the faculty. He furthermore understands that at the conclusion of the research he will be requested to make affidavit, on his honor as a gentleman, to the fidelity with which he has lived up to the regulations of the research, the careful reading of which is attested by signature to this instrument".

1 Another man, Fretter, was also a senior, but as elsewhere stated, his service in Squad A was very short. Since no scholastic results can be given for him when on diet, he has been included in the larger group of seniors. Kontner, who replaced Fretter in the squad, had special college work and there was no group with which he could well be compared.

Although there were certain physiological controls on the strict adherence to diet, in the last analysis it would be necessary to rely upon the honor of the men. With the magnificent college spirit and the high ethical standards obtaining in this college, one might at the outset assume without further evidence that the greatest fidelity and honesty of purpose would be assured. According to the honor system which was in active operation in the college, a subject would be in honor bound not to violate the conditions of the experiment and likewise in honor bound to report any known violation by fellow members of the squad.

The importance of absolute fidelity in the dietetic control can hardly be overestimated. For instance, if the record of the protein intake were not complete, due to the fact that the subject took excess food away from the training table, the nitrogen balance, which has assumed much prominence in this research, would be invalidated. Similarly if there were an incomplete collection of urine, the computation of the nitrogen balance would not be accurate. If, however, there were marked fluctuations in the nitrogen excretion in the urine which could not be accounted for by similar fluctuations in the nitrogen of the diet, it would be reasonable to suspect an infringement of the rules. Of course it would have been possible for a subject to take excess protein food and designedly give incomplete returns for the total urine excreted or report that the urine was lost, but we are certain that no such instance occurred.

It is, however, with the energy balance that the personal veracity of each man is the more important, for an energy balance computed from the measurement of the intake of food and the output in the urine and feces can have no value without the assurance that the measurement of the energy in the diet agrees with the actual daily intake. Without this assurance, the whole study from the standpoint of energy, which is of fundamental importance in this research, would be useless. Thus we see that the honor, personal integrity, and fidelity of our subjects are the greatest assets that we could have in the selection of a group of men for this type of experimentation.

We should here assert our belief in the honor and fidelity of these men. Throughout the entire four months of the investigation there was but one suspected violation of the rules. This was early in the series when there was a marked increase in the nitrogen excretion on one day with one subject, which was coincident with certain social functions. This led us to consider the possibility that the man had violated his agreement, although no report was made of it. Instead of making the direct charge, we argued that if he had violated the agreement once and it was unnoticed, he would certainly repeat the offense. It is a great pleasure to record that there was no other instance in which there was even a suspicion of an infringement. We now believe that the apparent violation of the rules was due to a gross error in reading the volume of urine. As stated earlier, these men were all professing Christians, but the men either refused to take the sacrament at church or else took it and reported the fact in accordance with the agreement in the affidavit. Our own personal belief is that none of the 26 men wilfully infringed the rules at any time during the research. The number of instances in which the students reported minor violations of the rules were so rare as to lead us to believe that throughout the entire period the 26 men used in the research considered it to be a serious phase in their academic life and lived up to the high standards of the college. We place special emphasis upon this point, as it indicates that the selection of subjects from the college body of the International Y. M. C. A. College at Springfield, with the high ethical standards obtaining, the honor system, the unusual interest in and appreciation of physiological experimentation and the importance of service in the national food crisis, was particularly fortunate.