102 A BIOMETRIC STUDY OF BASAL METABOLISM IN MAN. 



in indicating that correction for weight has practically, but not entirely, 

 eliminated the correlation between stature and heat-production. 



As a result of the analysis in this and the preceding section, we have 

 shown that the correlation between weight and total heat-production 

 is appreciably lowered when the factor of stature is eliminated by the 

 use of the partial correlation coefficient and that the correlation be- 

 tween stature and metabolism is considerably reduced when the factor 

 of body- weight is eliminated in a similar manner; but in neither case 

 does the correlation disappear. Thus there is a relationship between 

 weight and metabolism which is independent of stature, also a relation- 

 ship between stature and metabolism which is independent of weight. 

 These partial, residual, or net correlations, however one cares to desig- 

 nate them, are of a positive character. In other words, if a group of 

 individuals of identical weight be examined the taller individuals will 

 be found to have the higher metabolism. If a group of individuals of 

 the same stature be examined, the heavier individuals will be found to 

 have the greater metabolism. 



It is evident that our partial correlations have a direct bearing on 

 the problem of the metabolism of fat and lean individuals, a subject 

 which has received considerable discussion in the literature of basal 

 metabolism. If individuals of the same body-weight be classified 

 according to stature, the taller individuals will necessarily be thinner 

 than the shorter ones. The partial correlations show that in a given 

 weight class the taller individuals have the greater gaseous exchange. 

 In a group of individuals of identical weight, slenderness or spareness 

 of build can result only from reduction in weight of bone, muscle, or fat. 

 Reduction in fat mass seems the most probable source of an increase 

 of stature without alteration in weight. We conclude, therefore, 

 that the leaner individuals are those showing the higher metabolism. 

 The partial or residual correlation is not in this case large. 



In turning to the data which show that within a group of individuals 

 of the same stature the heavier individuals show the higher heat- 

 production, the reader may believe he sees a contradiction to the con- 

 clusion that the leaner individuals are those showing the higher 

 metabolism. But such does not, on closer analysis, seem to be the case. 

 In a group of individuals of the same stature, differences in body-weight 

 may be due to fat, which in the main is inert in its direct contribution 

 to metabolism, or they may be due to differences in the mass of mus- 

 cular and other active tissues. Thus there is no incompatibility what- 

 ever in the statements that within a group of individuals of the same 

 weight the taller have the greater metabolism, whereas in a group of 

 the same stature the thicker individuals show the greater metabolism. 



The recent investigation of Armsby and Fries, 1 in which they 

 demonstrated a disproportionately high heat-production in a fat as 



1 Armsby and Fries, Journ. Agr. Hes., 1918, 11. p. 451. 



