238 Metabolism of Healthy Max. 



These results are entirely at variance with what would naturally be expected 

 from most of the early researches. The fact that the results are so uniformly 

 low with 4 different subjects can not be overlooked and yet we wish to state 

 distinctly that the experiments were not planned primarily with the idea of 

 studying athletes and comparing them with a group of non-athletes and hence, 

 before final conclusions are made, we hope to have a series of experiments in 

 which this special pwblem is studied by itself. A careful comparison of all 

 records made during the experiments offers no plausible explanation for the 

 decreased metabolism. Furthermore, the possibility of a compensation in that 

 during rest the metabolism is low to counterbalance the high metabolism during 

 work, can hardly be accepted, for, in the first place, with 2 of the subjects, 

 D. W. and J. C. W., the experiments continued for two or more days, during 

 which time the subjects were not engaged in any muscular work, and in the 

 second place, the evidence as shown by the results of experiments following work 

 points strongly to an increased rather than decreased katabolism in sleep fol- 

 lowing work. 



COMPARISON OF THE METABOLISM OF WOMEN AND NON-ATHLETES. 



With 2 women subjects a number of experiments were made giving satis- 

 factory duplicates for each individual. The subject remained quietly sitting in 

 the chamber without any extraneous effort, and to all appearances the experi- 

 ments are perfectly comparable with a large number of experiments made with 

 men. In table 100 the experiments with each woman are compared with a 

 number of men of non-athletic build who were approximately of the same body- 

 weight, but in all cases considerably taller. The total metabolism as indicated 

 by the heat production, oxygen consumption, and carbon-dioxide excretion is 

 noticeably lower with these women than with nearly all of the men. This is 

 particularly the case with the heat production. For purposes of comparison, 

 the average of all experiments on resting men are given in the last line of the 

 table. The heat production per kilogram per hour with C. F. S. was 1.15 

 calories, and with G. E. B., 1.00 calories. The lowest value obtained on any of 

 the men with whom they are compared was 1.30 calories. In the case of C. F. S. 

 there are two men who exhaled somewhat lower amounts of carbon dioxide pel 

 minute and one who absorbed somewhat less oxygen. With G. E. B., none of 

 the men approximated the low excretion of carbon dioxide or the low oxygen 

 consumption. In general, then, the total metabolism of these 2 women was 

 noticeably lower than with men of similar body-weight. 



Setting aside all differences in physical characteristics and in sex of two 

 people of the same body-weight and general conformation, the taller person will 

 have the less subcutaneous fat, and women as a class have a larger amount of 

 subcutaneous fat than men. Consequently, the active mass of protoplasmic 

 tissue would be somewhat less with women than with men, and if this is the 

 controlling factor of metabolism, we would expect a lower metabolism. We also 



