26 METABOLISM AND GROWTH FROM BIRTH TO PUBERTY. 



experiments were carried out. The results of these two experiments 

 have already been briefly reported. 1 



To complete the accumulation of data on the normal metabolism 

 of children from birth to puberty, it was necessary to obtain older 

 children for further studies. Arrangements were therefore made, 

 through the courtesy of Dr. Frederic H. Knight, the superintendent 

 of the New England Home for Little Wanderers, to establish a respira- 

 tion laboratory in that institution. Studies were begun in October 

 1917 and continued until July 1919. The observations included 

 children of both sexes from 2 to 15 years of age. 



The obtaining of successful experimental periods was very much a 

 question of the child's mental attitude. To secure the interested co- 

 operation of the children a system of prizes was established. Each 

 child volunteering as a subject for an experiment received a cake of 

 sweet chocolate and a small sum of money, varying from 5 cents to 

 25 cents, according to the number of experimental periods possible to 

 be carried out and the degree of muscular repose during the experiment. 

 In the school-room it was made a privilege and an honor for a child to 

 act as subject in these respiration experiments; the child reported at 

 the end of an experiment to his teacher and schoolmates what prize 

 he had won, and in this way interest and enthusiasm were maintained 

 without difficulty. 



To obtain information regarding the actual weight and height of 

 children of school age, for possible use in establishing a normal stand- 

 ard, supplementary data were collected regarding the weight and 

 height of the pupils of a considerable number of private schools. 



The results of the observations made at the Directory for Wet- 

 Nurses and the New England Home for Little Wanderers have not 

 yet been reported in detail, 2 and form the subject of this monograph. 

 This report and the two monographs previously referred to give a 

 complete summary of the results obtained in the whole research on 

 the metabolism of children from birth to puberty. 



It will be seen from the foregoing history of the research on the 

 basal metabolism of children carried out by the Nutrition Laboratory 

 during almost a decade that the general plan of study was to make 

 observations on the respiratory exchange of a large number of normal 

 children differing in sex, age, height, and weight. As the observa- 

 tions were made with the children under conditions of muscular repose 

 and in many instances with no food in the stomach, the basal or 

 minimum metabolism was secured. By a comparison of the average 

 values obtained, the influence of age, height, weight, and sex upon 



1 Talbot, Am. Journ. Diseases of Children, 1917, 14, p. 25. 



2 A preliminary report of the results was given by one of us in the Shattuck Lecture before the 



Massachusetts Medical Society, June 1919. See Benedict, Boston Med. and Surg. Journ., 

 1919, 181, p. 107; also Talbot, Am. Journ. Diseases of Children, 1919, 18, p. 229. 



