INGESTION OF PROTEIN DIETS. 283 



examination of the protocols of the experiment indicates that there 

 was somewhat more repose when the basal values were obtained than 

 during the measurement after the food was taken. The increments 

 here noted would therefore be larger than would be expected if the 

 degree of repose were the same in both experiments. 



A. G. E., January 23, 1911. After the ingestion of 272 grams of 

 beefsteak with a nitrogen content of 12.63 grams, and 20 grams of 

 potato chips, measurable increases were obtained for all of the factors 

 of metabolism. (See table 214.) Although there is a lessening incre- 

 ment in the last period, the indications are that the stimulus to the 

 metabolism had not ceased at the end of the experiment. The maxi- 

 mum values in all cases occur in the third period. 



RESPIRATION EXPERIMENTS WITH BEEFSTEAK. 



The series of respiration experiments with beefsteak included 14 

 experiments with 10 subjects made between November 3, 1910, and 

 December 12, 1914. The routine in these experiments was not unlike 

 that followed in similar experiments in this laboratory, the basal value 

 being determined on the same day prior to the ingestion of food. After 

 the food was eaten, measurements of the metabolism were usually 

 begun immediately and continued at intervals in periods of approxi- 

 mately 15 minutes for a varying length of time. In one instance, the 

 experiment with H. L. H., on July 1, 1911, the observations continued 

 for 12 hours after the food was given, but in the majority of cases they 

 ended inside of 3 to 6 hours. Throughout the whole experiment the 

 subject lay quietly upon a couch and every effort was made to maintain 

 constant muscular repose. The urine was usually obtained for both 

 the basal and food periods. All available data regarding nitrogen 

 excretion in these experiments are given in table 216. In most of the 

 experiments the diet consisted of beefsteak alone, but in two instances 

 small amounts of other food materials were added. It was assumed 

 that these small amounts had practically no influence upon the metab- 

 olism. 



The pronounced effect upon metabolism occasioned by the ingestion of 

 even moderate amounts of a protein food material has been so clearly 

 shown, not only in all of the experiments cited in the literature but like- 

 wise in our calorimeter experiments with beefsteak, that the results of 

 these respiration experiments may be treated differently from those of 

 the carbohydrate respiration experiments. The average respiratory 

 quotient of normal man in the post-absorptive condition is not far from 

 0.83. Since this is approximately the respiratory quotient of protein 

 katabolism, the respiratory quotients in our experiments with a protein 

 diet do not have the special interest that they have in the carbohydrate 

 experiments. Consequently it seems unnecessary to publish the de- 



