BASAL METABOLISM OF NORMAL MEN AND WOMEN. 221 



we have the deviations of the average actual from calculated heat- 

 productions shown under the caption "Prediction from planar equa- 

 tions" in tables 85 to 87. These differences are sometimes positive 

 and sometimes negative in sign. They show, therefore, that the 

 actually observed heat-productions of the girl babies are sometimes 

 higher and sometimes lower than they would be expected to be if they 

 were boys of the same physical dimensions. As far as our data go they 

 indicate, therefore, that on the average there is no sensible difference 

 between the heat-productions of the two sexes in the first week of life. 



TABLE 87. Tests for differences in metabolism of male and female infants. 



5. RECAPITULATION. 



Our analysis of the available data to ascertain whether men and 

 women differ in the level of their metabolism has fully confirmed and 

 considerably extended the conclusions reached by Benedict and Emmes 

 in the first critical investigation of the problem. Our finding that the 

 metabolism of women is significantly low^er than that of men is based 

 on three lines of evidence. 



1. The general averages are higher in men than in women. The 

 average woman shows a daily heat-production about 300 calories less 

 than the average man. If correction be made for body-size by expres- 

 sing heat-production in calories per kilogram of body-weight, she shows 

 an average heat-production of about 1.2 calories per unit of weight 

 less than the man. If body-surface area be used as the basis of correc- 

 tion, the woman shows daily heat-production of 77 calories per 24 

 hours per square meter as measured by the Meeh formula and 75 

 calories per square meter as measured by the Du Bois height-weight 

 chart less than that of the man. 



2. The deviation of heat-production of the individual woman from 

 the general average associated with a deviation in her body-weight 

 from the general average is less than comparable deviations in the man. 

 When changes in heat-production associated with changes in other 

 characters in men and women are compared by means of equations 



