STANDARD BASAL METABOLISM CONSTANTS. 245 



of the standard value. On an average the athletes show an excess of 

 56.37 calories or 3.03 per cent over the standard. These results fully 

 confirm the conclusions concerning the influence of athletic training 

 already drawn, although the percentage differences are materially 

 lower by the new methods of analysis. 



The authors 24 expressed their results for selected groups of athletes 

 and of non-athletic individuals in terms of heat-production per 24 

 hours per square meter of body-surface as estimated by the Meeh 

 formula and on the average found for athletes 863 calories and for 

 non-athletes 807 calories. Thus athletes were 6.84 per cent higher. 

 Subsequent revision of these calculations on the basis of the Du Bois 

 height-weight chart shows 978 calories for athletes and 912 calories 

 for non-athletes. Thus the athletes are 7.24 per cent higher. 



By the method of analysis here employed we find a difference of 

 only 3 per cent. This difference in percentage results is probably due 

 to (1) the inherent defects in the selected-group system of comparison 

 which have been pointed out above; and (2) to including athletes in 

 the data from which the normal standard was derived. Had athletes 

 been excluded from the standard normal series the differences would 

 have been greater. Why, therefore, were they not excluded? Because 

 athletic training is in some degree characteristic of men at large. 

 Blacksmiths, riveters, stone-masons, lumbermen, cowboys, miners, and 

 stevedores are quite as typically men as are bar-tenders, book-keepers, 

 floor-walkers, and college professors. Out of 136 men, 16 with special 

 athletic training is perhaps not too large a proportion for a series 

 which is intended to serve as a standard for normal men, in good health, 

 as a class. 



ILLUSTRATION E. METABOLISM OP VEGETARIANS. 



As a further illustration of the applicability of these equations in 

 human physiology, we may consider the metabolism of vegetarians, 

 a question which has already been discussed elsewhere 25 on the basis 

 of a series of men and women well within the age-range over which 

 our equations may be held to apply. The observed daily heat-produc- 

 tions are compared with the standard productions in table 100 for men 

 and in table 101 for women. Of the 11 men, 6 show a subnormal and 

 5 show a supernormal metabolism. Of the 11 women, 5 are character- 

 ized by a subnormal and 6 by a supernormal metabolism. Disregarding 

 sex, as we may quite properly do since it has been taken into account 

 in the equations used, we note that 11 vegetarians have a subnormal 

 and 11 have a supernormal metabolism. The average metabolism of 

 the 11 men is subnormal by 24.64 calories per 24 hours, whereas that 

 of the women is supernormal by 5.91 calories per 24 hours. Disre- 

 garding sex, the metabolism of vegetarians differs from the multiple 



24 Benedict and Smith, Journ. Biol. Chem., 1915, 20, p. 251, Table II. 

 26 Benedict and Roth, Journ. Biol. Chem., 1915, 20, p. 231. 



