EARLIER RESEARCHES WITH NEW-BORN INFANTS. 



37 



TABLE 7. Indices d'oxygenation. 1 



x Table II in the Weiss article. 



2 Les nombres de la premiere colonne (I) ne commencent pas aux premiers jours apres 

 la naissance. 



It is obvious that the results recently reported from this laboratory 

 on the heat-output of atrophic infants confirm the observations of 

 Weiss, but the existence of abnormalities in the nature of the oxidative 

 processes is hardly essential to explain these differences. The varia- 

 tions in body composition and the variations in cellular and muscular 

 activity fully account for all differences in the amounts of oxygen 

 consumed. 



OBSERVATIONS BY BIRK AND EDELSTEIN. 



Using the Pettenkofer-Voit respiration apparatus in the Kaiserin 

 Auguste Victoria-Haus in Charlottenburg, Birk and Edelstein 1 in 1910 

 studied the total carbon-dioxide output of a healthy new-born infant 

 weighing 3,200 grams and 50 cm. long, during the first 3 days of post- 

 natal life. As the authors themselves recognize, the lack of data 

 regarding the oxygen consumption makes it impossible to use the results 

 for discussing the character of the katabolism during the first days of 

 life. The absence of a quantitative measurement of the muscular 

 activity likewise makes it difficult to compare their results with data 

 obtained in researches in which the muscular activity was observed. 



OBSERVATIONS BY CARPENTER AND MURLIN. 



Employing the differential method, Carpenter and Murlin 2 made 

 observations with the bed respiration calorimeter in the Nutrition 

 Laboratory on pregnant women before and after delivery. By deduct- 

 ing the metabolism of the mother after delivery from that of the mother 

 and child, an attempt was made to estimate the total metabolism of 

 the new-born infant. It is obvious that the difficulties inherent in a 

 differential method of this type make the results of little value for direct 

 comparison with data obtained with new-born infants. 



!Birk and Edelstein, Monatsschr. f. Kinderheilk., 1910, 9, p. 505. 

 "Carpenter and Murlin, Archives Internal Med., 1911, 7, p. 184. 



