BASAL KATABOLISM. 



101 



that the general belief was that infants produced not far from 1,000 

 calories per square meter of body-surface in common with that sup- 

 posedly produced by other living organisms. The first considerable 

 reduction in this figure is noted in the writings of Schlossmann and 

 Murschhauser, 1 in which they point out that the basal value is 866 

 calories per square meter. That this compares favorably with values 

 obtained upon man is shown by Schlossmann and Murschhauser in an 

 interesting way from the results of a single period selected from one of 

 the earlier experiments of Atwater and his associates, in which a heat- 

 production of 828 calories per square meter was observed. 



Calories per Sq Meter per 24 Hours 



FIG. 6. Minimum heat-production of new-born infants per square meter of body-surface 



per 24 hours referred to the body-weight. 



We may then say that up to the present time the general opinion 

 has been that young infants had a larger metabolism than adults, that 

 such measurements as were made previous to the observations of Schloss- 

 mann and Murschhauser ascribe to the infant a heat-production of 

 1 ,000 calories per square meter of body-surface, and that the figure of 

 Schlossmann and Murschhauser reduces this value to 866 calories per 

 square meter of body-surface. It is of further interest that this value 

 of 866 calories per square meter was obtained and reported by Schloss- 

 mann and Murschhauser in full recognition of the significance of com- 

 plete muscular repose during the observations, as is evidenced by their 

 painstaking ocular notations of the degree of muscular repose which 

 were made by a specially trained assistant. 



Schlossmann and Murschhauser, Biochem. Zeitschr., 1910, 26, p. 32. 



