INFLUENCE OF SEX ON METABOLISM. 



181 



weight, as was done in figure 48 for the total calories referred to 

 weight. It is highly important that these curves should not be 

 interpreted as giving a sharp picture of the actual metabolic changes 

 with increasing weight. Accordingly, since these curves were drawn 

 from plots representing all of our adult measurements, we publish at 



FIG. 50. Comparison of basal heat production of children and adults per kilogram of 

 body-weight per 24 hours referred to weight. 



this point the charts from which these adult curves were derived. 

 (See figs. 52, 53, 54, and 55.) The laying of a smoothed curve on 

 these charts is, owing to the scatter of the points, extremely difficult. 

 While the straight line which is at a constant level in the case of men 

 when the heat per square meter is referred to weight (fig. 54) would 

 seem to be an admission of the constancy of heat production per 



FIG. 51. Comparison of basal heat production of children and adults per square meter of 



body-surface per 24 hours referred to weight. 



square meter of body-surface with men, we believe that no one in- 

 specting this chart, with its wide scatter of individual points, can 

 conclude that this line, which represents trend only, can be logically 

 looked upon as a demonstration of the general thesis that the heat 

 production per square meter of body-surface with man is constant. 

 With women it would seem as if a slight slant to the line more closely 



