Variations in Metabolism. 



247 



INCREASE IN METABOLISM DUE TO DRESSING AND UNDRESSING. 



At least twice each day most individuals remove or put on clothes. This 

 operation involves some muscular work and likewise a portion or the whole of 

 the body is for a longer or shorter period of time exposed to the air without 

 surrounding clothing. With a view to obtaining some information with regard 

 to the energy transformation taking place during such a process, 21 different 

 men were used as subjects during experimental periods of 1 hour each in which 

 the subjects were weighed, took off their clothes, were weighed again, remained 

 naked an average of 3.5 minutes, then dressed themselves again, and imme- 

 diately sat down. The results are given in table 104. Inasmuch as the period 

 had been preceded by a resting period, the increase in metabolism was measured 

 with reasonable accuracy. One great disadvantage with experiments of this 

 kind, however, is that the measurement of the factors was confined to a 1-hour 

 period, and as has been pointed out previously, even 2-hour periods do not give 

 as accurate results as do longer experiments. However, it is assumed that an 

 average of the total number of experiments will give a reasonably accurate 

 picture of the increase in metabolism, although there are wide variations noted 

 with individuals. During undressing and dressing, there was an average in- 

 crease of 10.4 grams in the carbon-dioxide production over the resting, sitting 

 value; 8.7 grams more oxygen were absorbed; and 17.8 calories more heat 

 produced. 



Table 104. Increase in the metabolism in experiments when the subjects undressed, 

 weighed, and dressed as compared with metabolism during rest. 1 



[Increase per hour.] 



Subject. 



H. G. 

 H. L. 

 F. E. 



F. N. 

 H. C. 

 N. M. 

 J. A. 

 H. D. 

 H. L. 

 A. M. 

 D. R. 

 J. N. 

 C. A. 

 A. G. 



G. G. 



W. 

 R.. 

 C. 



A. 



P. 

 R.. 



A. 



K. 



In- 

 crease 



in 

 carbon 



di- 

 oxide 

 elimi- 

 nated. 



Oms. 

 8.5 

 8.6 



19.6 



11.1 

 6.4 



10.6 



F. 



T.. 



R. 



R. 



7. 



15. 



18. 



3. 



13. 



9.7 

 12.1 

 10.5 



Subject. 



J. V. C. 

 E. M. S. 

 G. E. H. 

 G. H. H. 

 J. W. H. 

 G. W. S. 



Average 



Average amount per 

 hour during rest.. 



Percentage increase 

 over rest 



In- 

 crease 



in 

 carbon 



di- 

 oxide 

 elimi- 

 nated. 



In- 

 crease 



in 

 oxygen 



ab- 

 sorbed. 



Oms. 



6.6 



13.9 



12.7 



10.2 



8.4 



9.1 



10.4 



32.6 



31.9 



Oms. 



5.1 



11.0 



31.8 

 4.2 

 7.4 

 8.4 



In- 

 crease 

 in 

 heat 

 pro- 

 duced. 



Cals. 

 1.5 

 5.6 

 7.3 



18.4 

 16.6 



16.7 



8.7 



25.6 



34.0 



17. S 



9S.2 



18.1 



1 The rest experiment in each case in this comparison was a period of 3 hours immediately 

 preceding the period of dressing and undressing. 



Here, again, it is distinctly impracticable to compare intelligently the in- 

 crements in the various factors carbon-dioxide elimination, oxygen consump- 

 tion, and heat production. The increased respiration-rate may naturally result 



17 



