48 A BIOMETRIC STUDY OF BASAL METABOLISM IN MAN. 



The name of the observer in the final column of tables C and D 

 fixes the laboratory at which the determinations were made. The 

 places for the several observers are: 



Carpenter, Nutrition Laboratory. Means, Nutrition Laboratory. 



Cathcart, Nutrition Laboratory. Riche, Nutrition Laboratory. 



Miss Corson and Miss Johnson, New Eng- Roth, Battle Creek Sanitarium. 



land Deaconess Hospital, Boston. Smith, Syracuse University. 



EmmeS) Nutrition Laboratory. Miss Tompkins, Nutrition Laboratory. 

 Higgins, Nutrition Laboratory. 



3. CRITERIA OF SUITABILITY OF MATERIALS DEALT WITH. 



In this volume we have limited ourselves to the discussion of the 

 metabolism of normal infants and of normal men and women. 



It is important that the conception of normal as used in its present 

 connection be made perfectly clear at the outset. 



First of all, it means individuals in presumably good health. 



Second, it is important to remember that, as we have used the term, 

 the normal man is not an individual of any preconceived dimension, 

 but a group of infants, men, or women representing the typical condi- 

 tion in the population. 



The population at large has a certain mean, variability, and corre- 

 lation of the measured parts of the human beings of which it is made up. 

 We may, therefore, properly inquire whether the subjects studied at 

 the Nutrition Laboratory agree reasonably well in correlation as well 

 as in mean and variability with men and women as they have been 

 studied by anthropologists. If they do agree in the physical characters 

 for which a basis of comparison may be secured, within the limits of the 

 probable errors of the determinations, we may feel confident that we 

 are dealing with " representative," "typical," or "normal" men and 

 women. If they differ too widely from the population at large, our 

 data can not be considered altogether free from criticism. 



In the following paragraphs we shall test the suitability of our 

 material for the solution of problems concerning the physiology of a 

 species, man, by ascertaining whether the sample of subjects dealt with 

 is really representative of man in general in mean, variability, and 

 correlation. In presenting our constants we are, of course, fully aware 

 that these problems have been so extensively investigated by anthro- 

 pologists and actuaries that no material contribution to the anthropo- 

 logical problems can be made on the basis of the number of individuals 

 examined in this paper a number which, while large from the physio- 

 logical standpoint, is relatively small as compared with the more 

 satisfactory anthropological series. 



In the field of metabolism this course seems to have a particular 

 justification. Practically the chief purpose of studies of the basal 

 metabolism of normal subjects is to obtain a basis of comparison on 

 which, in connection with studies in the experimental laboratory or 



