132 A BIOMETRIC STUDY OF BASAL METABOLISM IN MAN. 



"Plus tard nous apporterons a 1'appui les experiences que nous faisons 

 dans cette direction et qui sont rendues possibles grace au concours de 

 M. Lavalard et de M. Poret, grace aussia 1'obligeant empressement avec 

 lequel MM. Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire et Me"nard ont mis a notre disposition les 

 precieuses ressources du Jardin d'acclimatation." 



The first experimental data which requires consideration in relation 

 to modern work was published almost simultaneously by Rubner u 

 and Richet 12 both of whom maintained that the heat lost from living 

 organisms is essentially constant per unit of body-surface. Because 

 of his unusual technique the work of Rubner has rightfully been ac- 

 corded the greater weight by physiologists, and the " body-surf ace law" 

 is generally referred to as "Rubner's law." It has unquestionably 

 been one of the most stimulating ideas in nutritional physiology. 



While this constancy of heat-production per unit of body-surface 

 area is the dominant note in Rubner's papers, in several instances he 

 writes as if a causal relationship between body-surface and heat-pro- 

 duction was by no means thoroughly established. Richet, too, lays 

 stress upon many factors, such as nature of integument and external 

 temperature. 



After the appearance of Rubner's paper the hypothesis of a simple 

 mathematical relationship between body-surface and total metabolism 

 became naturally the subject of much discussion. Magnus-Levy and 

 Falk 13 referred to Rubner's dictum as the most important recent 

 contribution in the study of the gaseous metabolism. The range in 

 the animal kingdom over which this supposed law has been assumed to 

 extend is astonishing. It has been extensively applied to variations in 

 the heat-productions of the same species. The computations of 

 E. Voit 14 attempt to show that animals ranging in size from a 2-kilo- 

 gram fowl to a 441 -kilogram horse have essentially the same heat- 

 production per square meter of body-surface, namely, 970 calories per 

 24 hours. Armsby and his collaborators, 15 referring to a series of con- 

 stants for man, cattle, horses and swine say: 



"They show a rather striking degree of uniformity and tend to confirm 

 the conclusions of E. Voit that the basal katabolism of different species of 

 animals is substantially proportional to their body-surface." 



An illustration of the extremes to which strict adherence to the 

 body-surface law may lead is afforded by Putter's contention l that 

 the "active" surface, i.e., the cell surfaces of the various organs of the 

 body, should be taken into account, Putter maintaining that the energy 



11 Rubner, Zeitschr. f. Biol., 1883, 19, p. 535. 



12 Richet, La chalour animate, Paris, 1889. His earlier writings, some of which appeared 



at about the same time as Rubner's paper, are here summarized. 



13 Magnus-Levy and Falk, Arch. f. Anat. u. Phyaiol., Physiol. Abt., Supp., 1899, p. 314. 



14 Voit, Zeitschr. f. Biol., 1901, 41, p. 120. 



16 Armsby, Fries, and Braman, Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci., 1918, 4, pp. 3-4. See also Journ. Agric. 



Research, 1918, 13, pp. 49-55. 

 18 Putter, Zeitachr. f. allg. Phya., 1911, 12, p. 125. 



