274 



MEMOIRS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES. 



The experiments with men in the respiration calorimeter here described give extended data 

 regarding both the consumption of fuel and the radiation of heat. The details are summarized 

 in Table (XX in the appendix. The final outcome is simpleand may be illustrated by two eases, 

 Groups A and D. In each there were two experiments, practically alike, save that one was with 

 ordinary diet and the other with a diet in which part of the fats and carbohydrates were replaced 

 by alcohol as above described. In Group A the subject was at rest, i. e., doing no external 

 muscular work. The potential energy of the material burned in the body and the amounts 

 of heat given off in calories were practically the same, as is shown by the figures herewith. The 

 differences in the results without and with alcohol are entirely within the limits of ordinary 

 variation: 



Comparison of energy of material metabolized and heat given offper <l<nj in ,-rxt experiments with and without alcohol. 



Diet. 



Energy oi ma- 

 terial "burned. 



Energv given 

 off by the body- 

 as heat. 



Without alcohol, experiment No. 9. 

 With alcohol, experiment No. 10... 



Calnrii s. 



2,277 

 2,268 



OaloHeB. 



2,309 

 2.2S3 



If the alcohol had caused increased radiation of heat, more heat would have been given off 

 from the body and more fuel would have been required, and naturally more would have been 

 burned in the alcohol experiment than in the other. Such, however, was not the case. 



In the experiments of Group B the man was engaged for eight hours a da}' in active muscular 

 work, driving a stationary bicycle. The amount of work was such that he burned enough fuel to 

 yield in all 3,900 calories, and, as the food did not supply enough, he used up some of his store of 

 body fat. The results of such experimenting imply that when the body has not enough food for 

 its support and is forced to draw upon its reserve capital, it uses the materials economically. 

 The energv given off from the body was in two forms — heat and external work. This work was 

 practically the same in both experiments and is reckoned with the heat in the energy given off. 



Comparison of energy of material metabolized and heal given offper day in work experiments with and without alcohol. 



Diet. 



Energy of 



material 

 burned. 



Energv given 



off by the 

 body as heat 

 and muscular 



work. 



Without alcohol, experiment No. 11 

 With alcohol, experiment No. 12 ... 



i tUories. 

 3,901 



.■•;,932 



Calories. 

 3,922 

 3, 927 



Here again there was slightly more fuel burned per day with alcohol than without, though the 

 difference was small, while the amount of heat given off was practically the same in the one case 

 as the other. So far as the disposal of the energy is concerned, the figures imply that alcohol was 

 used as economically as the fat. sugar, and starch which it replaced, and that it caused no increased 

 radiation of heat. 



We have, all told. 13 experiments with alcohol, covering 36 days. For purposes of com- 

 parison these have been grouped, as already explained (p. 24L). with 13 experiments without 

 alcohol, covering 13 days. 



The subject in 5 of these groups, E. O., was a man who had been long accustomed to the 

 moderate use of alcoholic beverages. The subjects in the other four groups, A. W. S. and 

 .1. F. S., were two men who had always been total abstainers. 



The results are summarized in the table herewith, which is condensed from Table CXX of 

 the appendix. The first column gives the figures for energy for material actually oxidized. The 

 figures in the second column show the relation between the averages of experiments with alcohol 



