DISCUSSION OF RESULTS. 69 



output after a light meal was 12 per cent and that in the pulse-rate 

 10 per cent, while after a heavy meal the increase in the heat output 

 was 22.7 per cent and in the pulse-rate 23 per cent. This Laboratory 

 has frequently emphasized in its publications the important relation- 

 ship between the pulse-rate and the metabolism, the statements usually 

 implying that an increase in the pulse-rate is simultaneous with an 

 increase in the metabolism. Recently, in publishing the results of 

 observations on a man who fasted 31 days, 1 it was pointed out in com- 

 paring the metabolism of the subject asleep and awake that the incre- 

 ment in the pulse-rate for the subject awake was directly proportional 

 to the percentage increase in the metabolism. While it is by no means 

 maintained that the increment in the pulse-rate for subject II was in 

 direct proportion to the increase in the metabolism, it is of special 

 interest to point out this second striking percentage relationship 

 between the pulse increment and the metabolism increment, for such a 

 quantitative relationship, if not partaking of the nature of a physio- 

 logical law, at least serves to emphasize in a striking manner the im- 

 portance of records of the pulse-rate in all metabolism experiments. 



Occasion is here taken to note that a common error is found with 

 writers who misapply the measurements of the pulse-rate in attempting 

 to compare the pulse-rate of one person with that of another. Our 

 experience in this Laboratory points to no relationship between the pulse- 

 rate of two individuals, although the records for a single individual are 

 frequently surprisingly proportional to the metabolism. 



COMPARISON OF THE METABOLISM IN THE LYING AND SITTING POSITIONS. 



Although observations were made of the metabolism of subject II 

 in the post-absorptive condition for both the sitting and the lying posi- 

 tions, unfortunately the studies of the metabolism in the lying position 

 were made some three weeks later than those of the metabolism in the 

 sitting position, hence a comparison of the results is not free from criti- 

 cism. If, however, we compare the average values found for the 

 metabolism in the lying position on April 18, 1914 (see table 7), with 

 the average of the values for the metabolism in the sitting position 

 obtained on March 25 and 27 and April 3, 1914 (see table 8), we find a 

 percentage increase in the carbon-dioxide output with the subject sit- 

 ting over that with the subject in the lying position of 4.7 per cent, in 

 the oxygen consumption of 7.4 per cent, in the heat production of 7.2 

 per cent, and in the pulse-rate of 7.0 per cent. According to these incom- 

 plete data, therefore, the increase in the metabolism with the subject 

 sitting over that with the subject in the lying position is approximately 

 7 per cent. 2 We may also note here the agreement between the incre- 

 ment in the pulse-rate and that of the total metabolism. 



Benedict, Carnegie last. Wash. Pub. 203, 1915, p. 351. 



2 See, also, Emmes and Riche, Am. Journ. Physiol., 1911, 27, p. 406. 



