222 CARNEGIE INSTITUTION OF WASHINGTON. 



secured measurements of the oxygen consumption — an important factor in 

 our studies. Two full-grown steers which have been the subject of much 

 experimentation were used throughout the series. Opportunity was like- 

 wise taken to carry on critical experiments elucidating certain points in some 

 of the earlier researches. By means of a reconstruction of the room in which 

 the respiration chamber is placed, it is now possible to surround the apparatus 

 entirely with outdoor air and hence to work at winter temperatures. Pro- 

 fessor Ritzman has been assisted in these investigations by Mrs. L. A. Ritz- 

 man, Miss H. M. Hilton, and Mr. A. D. Littlehale. 



The gaseous metabolism of the white rat. — In addition to the studies of 

 steers at the University of New Hampshire, similar studies in cooperation 

 with Columbia University have been made with the white rat. This investi- 

 gation was under the direct supervision of Miss Grace MacLeod, assisted by 

 Miss Margaret G. Barwis. 



PUBLICATIONS. 



A monograph entitled "Alcohol and human efficiency. Experiments with 

 moderate quantities and dilute solutions of ethyl alcohol on human subjects," 

 by Professor Walter R. Miles, is now in proof form. The following pubh ca- 

 tions have been issued during the year: 



(1) The work of the Carnegie Nutrition Laboratory. Francis G. Benedict. Report 



Seventy-seventh Meeting New England Association Chemistry Teachers, Provi- 

 dence, R. I., May 6, 1922, pp. 10-19. 



A popular account of the general scope, technique, and results of experi- 

 ments, with emphasis upon the special factors of pedagogical significance. 



(2) Physical measurements of diabetic patients. H. F. Root and W. R. Miles. Jour^ 



Metabolic Research, vol. 2, pp. 173-197 (1922). 



A group of 133 diabetic men and women averaged 20 per cent over weight 

 prior to the onset of the disease, although normal in stature. At the time of 

 examination they were about 10 per cent under weight. The women showed 

 more severe diabetes than the men and had much lower carbohydrate toler- 

 ance per kilogram of body-weight, whether expressed as total available 

 glucose or as the carbohydrate in the diet. The glucose tolerance per kilo- 

 gram of body-weight was more uniform for the different diabetic patients 

 than the carbohydrate tolerance. The carbohydrate tolerance, therefore, 

 appears to be the more definitive expression for tolerance in diabetes. The 

 older diabetics had been more obese, had lost a larger percentage of their 

 maximum weight, and demonstrated the longer durations. Diabetics who 

 had never been obese according to medico-actuarial standards were found to 

 have been 10 per cent over weight when compared with Dreyer's standard. 

 They were distinguished by abnormally narrow chests and probably had been 

 fat for their build. Obesity is closely related to the onset of diabetes mellitus, 

 in fact is almost invariably present, but the intensity of the disease is fre- 

 quently inversely proportional to the amount of excess fat. The average 

 diabetic patient is not physically fit, if body-weight is used as an index, but 

 his vital capacity may be as large as that of normal individuals, notwith- 

 standing his bodily weakness. Vital capacity measurements in uncomph- 

 cated diabetes are not clinically helpful. 



