244 A BIOMETRIC STUDY OF BASAL METABOLISM IN MAN. 



tions for 24-hour periods. In 3 instances our formula has predicted 

 too large and in 3 cases too small a daily heat-production. The 

 average error without regard to sign is 177 calories, but with regard 

 to sign it is 63 calories per day. Thus, while in the individual 

 instance the error of prediction may be fairly large, the average 

 result is, considering the small number of subjects, reasonably close. 

 Physiologically the comparison suggests that the metabolism of 

 dwarfs is essentially the same as that of normal adults. 



ILLUSTRATION D. METABOLISM OF ATHLETES. 



As an example of the application of these equations, or tables, in 

 the solution of a specific physiological problem, we may take the data 

 for a series of 16 athletes 23 studied in the Chemical Laboratory of 

 Syracuse University by Dr. H. Monmouth Smith, now of the Nutri- 

 tion Laboratory staff. These all fall well within the age range of 

 our equation, and an observed deviation from the standard values 

 can not in this case be attributed to a distinct difference in metabolism 

 due to age, as is certainly the case in the series of boy scouts studied 

 by Du Bois, or to possible inadequacy of our formulas for extreme old 

 age, as in the octogenarians recorded by Aub and Du Bois. 



TABLE 99. Comparison of basal metabolism of H. Monmouth Smith's athletes with adult male 



normal (multiple prediction) standard. 



Table 99 gives the age, weight, and stature, from which the theo- 

 retical basal metabolism of the men has been calculated and entered 

 in the fifth column of the table. As is clearly shown by the entries in 

 the sixth and seventh columns, the athletes are, with two slight exceptions, 

 supernormal in their metabolism. The excesses over the standard values 

 range from 1 to 189 calories per 24 hours, or from 0.1 to 9.8 per cent 



23 Benedict and Smith, Journ. Biol. Chem., 1915, 20, p. 243. 



