134 A BIOMETRIC STUDY OF BASAL METABOLISM IN MAN. 



"La production chez 1'homeotherme est en equation avec la perte calori- 

 que. Or, a pouvoir e"missif egal, la deperdition est evidemment proportion- 

 nelle a la surface rayonnante. La production calorique (c'est-a-dire, chez 

 1'organisme en equilibre et au repos, le besoin d'energie) est done proportion- 

 nelle a 1'etendue de la surface totale du corps." 



Furthermore, Professor H. P. Armsby, whose more recent conclu- 

 sions have been noted above, states : 23 



"The results which we have been considering show that in general the 

 emission constant, i.e., the rate of heat emission per unit of surface, is sub- 

 stantially the same in small and large animals and that the greater loss of 

 heat in the former case is met by an increased production. In this aspect the 

 effect is simply an extension of the influence of falling temperature, the in- 

 creased demand for heat being met by an increased supply, so that the extent 

 of surface appears as the determining factor of the amount of metabolism." 



Moulton, who (on the basis of a series of graphs) has given a detailed 

 discussion of the interrelationship between body-surface, body- weight, 

 blood-volume, nitrogen-content of body, etc., in cattle in various con- 

 ditions, says : 24 



"A better conception of the basal needs of animals for food can be obtained 

 from a comparison of the relative surface areas of the animals. Since Rubner 

 and Richet presented evidence to show that the heat production of living 

 animals was proportional to the body surface, this has been a much used unit 

 of reference." 



In other current (1915) literature we find such statements as the 

 following : 2o 



" 'Rubner's law/ to quote from Lusk, is that 'the metabolism is propor- 

 tional to the superficial area of an animal. In other words, the metabolism 

 varies as the amount of heat loss at the surface, and its variance in accordance 

 with this law is necessary for the maintenance of a constant temperature.' ' 



In a popular text-book on nutrition 26 we also find : 



"Since the body loses heat in proportion to the extension of its surface 

 it is not strange that this is the determining factor for the metabolism." 



Du Bois, in his Harvey lecture 27 of November 27, 1915, said: 



"Rubner demonstrated many years ago that the metabolism is propor- 

 tional to the surface-area of the body and that for each square meter of skin 

 large men, small men, dogs, horses, and mice have about the same heat pro- 



23 Armsby, The Principles of Animal Nutrition, New York, 1906, 2d ed., p. 365. Professor 

 Armsby, in a recent personal communication states that this phraseology does not 

 exactly express his belief: " The true state of the case is, as I conceive it, that the body 

 does not produce heat to any considerable extent to keep itself warm but is kept warm 

 because it produces heat. In other words, heat production is substantially not an end 

 but an incident of metabolism." 



= 4 Moulton, Journ. Biol. Chem., 1916, 24, p. 303. 



55 Means, Journ. Med. Research, 1915, 32, p. 139. 



26 Stiles, Nutritional Physiology, Philadelphia, 1915, 2d ed., p. 200. 



27 Du Bois, Am. Journ. Med. Sci., 1916, 151, p. 781. Also Studies Dept. Physiol., Cornell 



Univ. Med. Bull.. 1917, 6, No. 3, Part II. Also The Harvey Lectures, 1915-1916, p. 106. 



