88 A BIOMETRIC STUDY OF BASAL METABOLISM IN MAN. 



Turning to the question of the relative magnitude of the correlation 

 between physical measurements and oxygen consumption and physical 

 measurements and carbon-dioxide excretion, we may refer to the differ- 

 ences between the correlations for weight and the two gases as given 

 in table 24 and for stature and the two gases as set forth in table 26. 



The correlation for weight and gaseous exchange shows that, with 

 an insignificant exception in the case of the total women, the relation- 

 ship between body-weight and the amount of oxygen consumed is 

 higher than that between body-weight and the quantity of carbon- 

 dioxide eliminated. The same is true, with three exceptions only, in 

 the lower correlations between stature and gaseous exchange. 



320 



-300 



-280 



I4S IS? ,'Sf 160 164- IC8 172 176 ISO /S4- IS8 192 196 



STATURE IN CENTIMETERS 



DIAGRAM 11. Mean carbon-dioxide production by men and women of various statures. 



The differences in correlations between body-weight and stature 

 and the two gases are of a low order of magnitude, and because of the 

 small number of individuals available can not be considered statistically 

 significant for the individual series; but taking the data as a whole, 

 there can be scarcely a doubt that the correlations between physical 

 characters and oxygen consumption are significantly higher than those 

 for physical characters and carbon-dioxide excretion. 



In view of the fact that the total volume of oxygen consumed is 

 not excreted as carbon dioxide, one might perhaps have expected the 

 lower correlation between physical characters and gaseous exchange 

 to be found for the gas which, considered alone, gives the minimum 

 measure of the katabolic transformations occurring in the body. The 

 same relationship has been shown to hold in the correlation between the 

 volume of the two gases and pulse-rate discussed on page 78. 



