b A BIOMETRIC STUDY OF BASAL METABOLISM IN MAN. 



Turning now from generalities to concrete problems, we may outline 

 very briefly the actual physiological problems upon which we have 

 touched. 



First of all it may be stated that this volume contains the raw data 

 for age, body-weight, stature, pulse-rate, and gaseous exchange, with 

 the computed heat-production, in 47 men and 35 women hitherto 

 unpublished. These are laid before the reader, together with the data 

 for 89 male and 68 female adults and the 51 male and 43 female infants 

 already published from the Nutrition Laboratory. These represent a 

 contribution to the problem of human metabolism of experimentally 

 determined facts which must be taken into account even by those who 

 may be unwilling to accept the results of the statistical analysis to 

 which all the data at our disposal have been subjected. 



Turning to the results of statistical analysis, properly so called, we 

 note the following : 



1 . The more important statistical constants of the largest available 

 series of metabolism measurements have been determined. These 

 must serve as standards in metabolism work until more extensive data 

 are available. 



2. The relationship between physical and physiological measure- 

 ments of the human individual has been discussed in as great detail 

 as possible by means of correlation constants. Specifically, we have 

 considered the relationship between both body-weight and stature, 

 representing physical measurements, and the physiological measure- 

 ments, pulse-rate, gaseous exchange, and total heat-production, and 

 determination has been made of the effect upon these correlations of 

 correction for other factors. 



3. The degree of interdependence between various physiological 

 characters has also been considered. Specifically, the relationships 

 between pulse-rate and gaseous exchange, and between pulse-rate and 

 total heat-production and heat-production per unit of body-weight 

 and of body-surface have been determined. 



The illustrations presented in the following pages should amply 

 demonstrate the material advances in our knowledge of physiological 

 processes which may be expected when the degree of interrelationship 

 between various physical characters and physiological activities, or 

 between physiological activities themselves, shall be generally measured 

 on a definite quantitative scale. 



4. The validity of the so-called body-surface law has been tested 

 by means of criteria hitherto unapplied. This "law" has been discussed 

 as an empirical means of predicting the metabolism of an unknown 

 subject and as an expression of a true physiological interrelationship. 



5. In connection with the investigation of the so-called body- 

 surface law, various methods of predicting the total heat-production 

 of an unknown subject from sex, age, stature, and body- weight have 



