204 METABOLISM AND GROWTH FROM BIRTH TO PUBERTY. 



meter is 11.6 per cent, while for those above it is 8.5 per cent, 

 showing a measurably greater error with the smaller children. If, 

 again, we use for the arbitrary dividing-line, the surface area of 0.65 

 square meter, the percentage deviation for the girls of this surface area 

 or over is 6.8 per cent, as compared with 8.5 per cent on the basis 

 of 0.45 square meter. 



It is thus seen from the data in table 35 that the error of prediction 

 with girls by surface is slightly better with the smaller children, i. e., 

 those below 10 kg. and below 0.45 square meter, than is the prediction 

 from weight, but with the larger girls the prediction by weight is 

 considerably better than by surface, i. e., 7.5 per cent against 8.5 

 per cent. 



It will be noted that in table 34 we have omitted figures regard- 

 ing the prediction of the metabolism of girls by the adult multiple- 

 prediction formula of Harris and Benedict. The formula for men, 

 which is used to predict the metabolism for boys, is given on page 197 

 of this report. The formula for women differs considerably from 

 that for men in that the first term is large, being 655. 0955. l The other 

 terms for weight and stature are both positive, that for age alone being 

 negative. Consequently, since the ages are all small with girls, with a 

 maximum of 15 years, the only negative term would at most corre- 

 spond to not far from 70 calories. As this formula deals only with 

 those organisms having a heat prediction of not less than 700 or 800 

 calories, it is obviously impossible to apply the formula to the heat 

 production of young girls. While we might have used the formula 

 for men for this computation and thus studied the relative differences 

 in metabolism between boys and girls, it was believed to be unnecessary, 

 as our several charts point out very clearly the sexual differentiation. 



The application of the formula for women to girls is fraught with 

 considerable danger. Throughout the biometrical treatment of the 

 basal metabolism of women and men by Harris and Benedict, it was 

 brought out repeatedly that no method at present available makes it 

 possible to predict the metabolism of women with any approach to 

 the accuracy of the prediction for men. Although in the biometric 

 study referred to approximately 100 women were included, they were 

 by no means so harmonious in physical type as were the men, the 

 correlation of stature and weight being on the whole about half that 

 for men. Unfortunately, the data with which this correlation can be 

 compared are very few, comprising generally the Cambridge students, 

 both male and female, studied by Pearson. 2 With these students a 

 much more homogeneous group was found, since the correlation 

 between weight and height with the female students was considerably 

 better than that found for the male students. With the men included 



1 Harris and Benedict, Carnegie Inst. Wash. Pub. No. 279, 1919, p. 227. 



2 Pearson, Proc. Roy. Soc. Lond., 1899, 66, p. 26. 



