BASAL METABOLISM. 



91 



ments of the body-temperature were practically impossible with this 

 subject and hence the use of the heat values for comparison with those 

 obtained after food is questionable. The average results of the bed- 

 calorimeter experiments show no great fluctuation, even for the heat 

 output. With this subject, also, the average values found with the 

 chair calorimeter are perceptibly higher than those found with the 

 bed calorimeter. 



The subject T. M. C., thoroughly aware of the importance of uniform 

 muscular activity, gives us values in chair-calorimeter experiments 

 that are probably as accurate and consistent as can be expected with 

 any subject. (See table 34.) They show but few deviations from the 

 normal value for both the carbon-dioxide production and the oxygen 

 consumption. As no measurements of the body-temperature were made, 

 the usual variations in the measurements of the heat output appear. 

 The average results show a remarkable constancy in the metabolism 

 from hour to hour. The period of experimentation was short, being 

 only from January 3 to January 12, 1911, and no marked differences are 

 found from day to day. The low metabolism noted in the whole series 

 is in large part explained by the small body-weight of the subject. 



Four other subjects, A. G. E., C. H. H., Dr. H., and D. J. M., were 

 studied in the chair calorimeter for two 1-hour periods; the results of 

 these few experiments are also given in table 34. As a rule, the values 

 obtained show the usual uniformity from hour to hour. 



TABLE 34. Basal metabolism at different times of day in chair-calorimeter experiments. 



Boston. (Values per hour.) 1 



'Values for T. M. C. calculated to hour basis; measured in periods of 45 minutes. 



2 The beginning of the "First hour" was approximately between 8 h 30 m a. m. and 9 a. m. 



3 Heat eliminated corrected for change in body-weight but not for change in body-temperature. 



