184 REPORTS OF INVESTIGATIONS AND PROJECTS. 



One of the foremost clinicians in Boston, Dr. Elliott P. Joslin, also became 

 interested in the research and from the start has shown the most active spirit 

 of cooperation. The preliminary experiments inaugurated through the coop- 

 eration of Drs. Falta and Joslin have been subsequently carried on in coopera- 

 tion with Dr. Joslin during the winter, and while we are not in a position to 

 make definite published statements, the results thus far obtained have fully 

 justified our plans for a continuation of the research. 



With a number of years' experience in most profitable experimenting on 

 the influence of pregnancy on the metabolism of animals. Prof. J. R. Murlin, 

 of the Cornell University Medical College, came to the Nutrition Laboratory 

 early in May, 1909, and in cooperation with my associate, Mr. T. M. Carpen- 

 ter, made an extended series of observations on the influence of pregnancy 

 upon the metabolism of women. The experiments were conducted so as to 

 include measurements of the total metabolism inside the calorimeter on a 

 number of days before confinement, and several observations were made after 

 confinement. The results proved to be of the greatest value in interpreting 

 metabolism at this most important period of female life. 



In the early part of 1909, I visited a number of American laboratories 

 where research on nutrition and allied topics was in progress. These periodic 

 tours are most profitable in keeping the Nutrition Laboratory in close touch 

 with workers in this same field and also in bringing to light many points with 

 regard to equipment and with regard to the planning of experiments. 



INVESTIGATIONS NOW IN PROGRESS. 

 BOMB CALORIMETER. 



Mr. H. L. Higgins has been engaged the past year in testing a new form 

 of adiabatic calorimeter specially devised for use with the calorimetric bomb. 

 Our long experience with adiabatic calorimeters, dating with the construc- 

 tion of the first respiration calorimeter in 1896, has led to many experiments 

 with a view to developing a similar type of apparatus for the calorimetric 

 bomb and thus to eliminate the lengthy and tedious calculations for the, at 

 best, somewhat erratic cooling correction. The successful experiments of 

 Richards, Henderson, and Frevert, in which a chemical method was used to 

 produce adiabatic conditions about a bomb calorimeter, resulted in a most 

 satisfactory instrument for the special work in which they were engaged. 

 This apparatus for constant practical use in the laboratory, however, has its 

 disadvantages, and during the past year we have developed an adiabatic 

 calorimeter in which electrical heating is used and have thus done away with 

 the handling of the relatively large amounts of acid and alkali required in 

 the chemical method. The apparatus has proven most satisfactory and has 

 been in use during the whole year. A description of it will appear in the 

 near future. 



