24 METABOLISM AND GROWTH FROM BIRTH TO PUBERTY. 



the post-absorptive condition and muscular repose (with graphic 

 registration by means of a pneumograph and kymograph) are readily 

 obtained. Conditions for normal pulse-records are thus ideal and 

 should accompany each experiment. In other words, normal experi- 

 ments should serve not only their immediate purpose, but should 

 invariably contribute toward the sum of the knowledge of basal 

 metabolism requirements of normal subjects. 



We wish to enter a plea for the same degree of intelligence in planning 

 normal control experiments, as is shown in planning the original critical 

 experiments in every series of metabolism experiments conducted in 

 the future. If all workers in metabolism applied this critical analysis 

 to their own work, the accumulation of basal material would be very 

 rapid, and the work of the several laboratories would be much more 

 strictly comparable than at present. While it is now practically 

 agreed by all laboratories that ideal conditions are the post-absorptive 

 state and complete muscular repose, the question of sleep is at present 

 debatable ground. It is impossible to insure deep sleep, but it is 

 possible as a rule to insure wakeful repose. 



