NUTRITION LABORATORY. 193 



(8) Suggestions regarding research in animal nutrition. Francis G. Benedict. Pro- 



ceedings Amer. Soc. of Animal Nutrition, p. 20. 1910. 



The relation between animal and human nutrition and the importance of 

 coordinating researches in nutrition in general are emphasized in this paper. 

 As studies of the protein requirement of animals are possible in a large 

 number of laboratories that are not equipped for studies of the total metab- 

 olism, the suggestions deal for the most part with problems in regard to 

 the protein requirement, such as the minimum and optimum protein require- 

 ment, the importance of ash constituents of protein, and the periodic inges- 

 tion of protein. Great emphasis is laid upon the importance of using a suffi- 

 cient number of control animals. 



(9) Metabolism in diabetes mellitus. Francis G. Benedict and Elliott P. Joslin. Publi- 



cation No. 136, Carnegie Institution of Washington. 1910. 



In the research reported in this publication the metabolism of 13 diabetic 

 patients was studied by means of the respiration calorimeters of the Nutri- 

 tion Laboratory. The investigation included 42 experiments lasting 2 to 6 

 hours, 14 hours after the last meal, together with 11 experiments following 

 the ingestion of food. In these experiments the water elimination, carbon- 

 dioxide production, oxygen consumption, and heat elimination and produc- 

 tion were determined, and simultaneous determinations were likewise made 

 of the body-temperature, pulse-rate, and respiration-rate. Besides experi- 

 ments with the respiration calorimeters, 26 experiments were made with a 

 respiration apparatus which permitted very exact determinations of carbon- 

 dioxide production and oxygen absorption. The urine was collected and the 

 nitrogen and sugar determined in all these experiments. 



Complete details of the investigation are reported, together with the clini- 

 cal history of each case. A summary is given of the gaseous exchange and 

 energy transformations in these experiments and the averages are compared 

 with those for normal individuals in experiments with the same apparatus. 

 The metabolism in diabetes of different degrees of severity is compared. 



Some of the other topics discussed are the nitrogen excretion, the dextrose- 

 nitrogen ratio, the vaporization of water from the lungs and skin, and the 

 influence of food on the nitrogen and sugar excretions, on the respiratory 

 exchange, and on the total katabolism. The report concludes with a dis- 

 cussion of practical features in the treatment of diabetes on which light has 

 been thrown by this investigation, including a consideration of the quantities 

 of food allowed diabetic patients, the restriction of the diet, and the advisa- 

 bility of making the diabetic sugar-free. The value of the respiration calo- 

 rimeter in studying diabetes mellitus is shown and a number of suggestions 

 are made for further investigations on this subject. 



(id) The influence of mental and muscular work on nutritive processes. Francis G. 

 Benedict. Proc Amer. Phil. Soc, 49, p. 145. 1910. 



After considering in a non-technical way the fundamental principles in- 

 volved in the study of nutrition, including a brief description of the respira- 

 tion calorimeter, some of the results of more general interest in regard to 

 the average normal output of carbon dioxide and heat from the body during 

 the day and during different conditions of muscular work are presented. 

 These are shown in table i. 



13— YB 



