ENERGY TRANSFORMATIONS DURING HORIZONTAL 



WALKING. 



INTRODUCTION. 



This investigation was undertaken after several long conferences 

 with Professor Zuntz of Berlin and Professor Durig of Vienna, whose 

 researches on the work of forward progression are classical. The pre- 

 liminary experiments were made during the sojourn at the Nutrition 

 Laboratory of Dr. Carl Tigerstedt of Helsingfors. Subsequently data 

 were acquired by Messrs. H. L. Higgins and L. E. Emmes of the 

 Laboratory staff. We wish to express our thanks to these gentlemen 

 and particularly to Dr. Tigerstedt for the data regarding Subject I. 



A certain amount of walking on a level inevitably forms a part of 

 the daily routine of nearly every living person, for even those who are 

 designated as sedentary in then- habits do a not inconsiderable amount 

 of walking in the house or in short distances upon the street. To 

 one who has not computed the actual distance traversed by the 

 housewife during a day, the sum total of the distance walked is 

 surprising. Such a control may readily be obtained with a simple 

 pedometer, for although a pedometer can not be classified as an 

 instrument of precision and is subject to many errors that are fre- 

 quently overlooked, nevertheless it shows in a striking manner that 

 very few individuals close a day of ordinary life without having moved 

 in forward progression a distance of not less than 2 or 3 kilometers. 



Not infrequently this distance is doubled or trebled by those who 

 would ordinarily assume that they had not taken a particularly long 

 walk. The personal experience of one of us while writing a report 

 showed that the walking for a day consisted in going twice to and from 

 the house, which was 400 meters from the laboratory, i. e., a total 

 distance of 1,600 meters, and in walking about the laboratory while 

 engaged in instruction and research. Throughout a period of several 

 months the pedometer, which was carefully controlled and tested, 

 showed that the average distance walked per day amounted to 7 miles 

 (11.27 kilometers). 1 Undoubtedly innumerable instances even more 

 striking than this may be cited, which would show that it is reasonable 

 to assume that practically all persons do considerable walking during 

 the course of 24 hours. Inasmuch as there are many individuals whose 

 habit of life or profession requires a large amount of walking for 

 example, those walking to and from business, mail carriers, and espe- 



iBenedict, Proc. Am. Phil. Soc., 1910, 49, p. 162. 



