PREVIOUS STUDIES OF THE METABOLISM OF CHILDREN. 11 



just preceding the minimum period was 41 grams and that in the period 

 following was 42 grams. For computing the caloric output during this 

 time, we are justified in using the respiratory quotient of 0.90 for the 

 first experiment and probably 0.87 for the second experiment. On this 

 basis the minimum caloric requirements for these two boys would be 

 as given in table 5. These values may more properly be used for 



TABLE 5. Minimum metabolism of boys during sleep (Sonden and Tigerstedt). 



purposes of comparison with our own results, as they were obtained 

 with the subject in the lying position, probably in deep sleep, which in 

 considerable part may offset the influence of food. No night experi- 

 ments during sleep were made with girls. 



Hellstrom, 1900. Employing presumably the large Stockholm 

 respiration chamber, Hellstrom 1 studied the metabolism of a 9-year-old 

 child weighing 23.2 kg. and found that the child had a heat production 

 of 63 calories per kilogram per 24 hours or 1,499 calories per square 

 meter per 24 hours. Since the original place of publication of Hell- 

 strom's article has been inaccessible to us, we have had to rely upon 

 scattered statements concerning this experiment by von Willebrand, 2 

 by R. Tigerstedt, 3 and more recently by C. Tigerstedt. 4 As we have 

 no information at hand with regard to the activity of the child or the 

 height and sex, the experiment is cited here simply as a matter of 

 historical record. 



Rubner, 1902. Rubner published an interesting series of observa- 

 tions on two brothers, one fat and the other thin; also a few experi- 

 ments on two other boys. 5 As at that time the importance of muscular 

 rest in measurements of basal metabolism had not been so greatly 

 emphasized as at present, these children were allowed entire freedom 

 of movement inside the respiration chamber. The two brothers 

 remained in the chamber for 22 out of the 24 hours, the other two 

 boys only 4 hours. As a result of the experimental technique Rubner 



1 Hellstrom, Studier ofver mjolken sasom foda, Helsingfors, 1900, p. 132. 



2 von Willebrand, Finska Lakaresallskapets Handlingar, 1907, 49, p. 421. 



8 R. Tigerstedt, Nagel's Handbuch d. Physiol., Braunschweig, 1909, 1, p. 476. 



4 C. Tigerstedt, Ueber die Nahrungszufuhr des Menschen in ihrer Abhangigkeit von Alter, 



Geschlecht und Beruf, Helsingfors, 1915, p. 77; see also Skand. Arch. f. Physiol., 1916, 



34, p. 151. 

 6 Rubner, Beitrage zur Ernahrung im Knabenalter, Berlin, 1902. 



