178 METABOLISM AND GROWTH FROM BIRTH TO PUBERTY. 



the oxygen consumption from 4.10 c. c. to 3.43 c. c. per minute per 

 kilogram. 



Their conclusions are as follows: The gaseous exchange of children 

 per unit of weight is greater than with adults, being larger the younger 

 and lighter the child; this does not apply to the first year of life. 

 Per unit of body-surface (Meeh), the metabolism of children is much 

 greater than that of adults, but during the first year of life it is prob- 

 ably somewhat lower than during later child life. 



The metabolism of females is not actually less than that of males; 

 certainly with adults there is no difference. In this respect they do 

 not agree with Sonde"n and Tigerstedt, who believe that the meta- 

 bolism of women is less than that of men. 



With the younger children the gaseous exchange per kilogram of 

 body-weight for girls is somewhat less than with boys; with larger 

 children the gaseous exchange is about the same with boys and girls. 

 In general, Magnus-Levy and Falk conclude that the metabolism of 

 women in middle life is approximately the same per kilogram of body- 

 weight as that of adult men of the same age and weight; with children 

 and elderly people, the metabolism of females is slightly less than that 

 of males (about 5 to 10 per cent). 



Finally, we should refer to the conclusions of Sonden and Tigerstedt, 1 

 although these were not founded upon basal metabolism measure- 

 ments. These investigators maintain that in general the carbon- 

 dioxide production of boys, on the basis of both weight and surface, 

 is considerably greater than that of girls of the same age and body- 

 weight, and that the carbon dioxide production of girls, both per kilo- 

 gram of body-weight and per square meter of body-surface as computed 

 by the Meeh formula, is to the boys as 100 is to 141. This finding, 

 as Sonden and Tigerstedt point out, was earlier suggested by Scharling 2 

 and Speck, 3 as well as Andral and Gavarret, 4 although the experiments 

 of Scharling and Speck were so few as to make their deductions little 

 more than speculation. 



In considering the several charts and diagrams for the measurements 

 made upon our boys and girls, we have occasionally hinted at small 

 but obvious sexual differences in the general form of the curves. 

 Still, from a casual inspection of the individual curves, it would be 

 almost impossible to assert the presence of a pronounced sexual 

 differentiation. For the special purpose of noting sex differences, if 

 they exist, comparison should be made upon the same chart. In 

 figure 48 the total calories are referred to body-weight for both boys 

 and girls, the two curves being taken directly from figures 26 and 27, 



1 Sonden and Tigerstedt, Skand. Archiv f. Physiol., 1895, 6, p. 95. 



2 Scharling, Ann. d. Chem. u. Pharm., 1843, 45, p. 214; reprinted in detail in Ann. d. Chim. et 



d. Phys., 1843, ser. 3, 8, p. 478. 



3 Speck, Physiologic des menschlichen Athmens, Leipsic, 1892. 



4 Andral and Gavarret, Ann. d. Chim. et d. Phys., 1843, ser. 3, 8, p. 129. 



