1914] Sergius Morgulis 437 



of that water was weighed as carbon dioxid, thus giving an erron- 

 eously large value to the latter and making, therefore, the quo- 

 tients appear very high? 



To clarify the above reasoning, and to substantiate it, a brief 

 diversion will be made to point out the essential features of the 

 technic. The subject, riding a bicycle ergometer, breathed through 

 a closely connected series of bottles, sonie of which contained soda- 

 lime for the absorption of carbon dioxid, and others contained sul- 

 furic acid for the absorption of water. The produced carbon dioxid 

 was determined directly by weighing the soda-lime bottles before 

 and immediately after the experiment. Oxygen was supplied from 

 a cylinder and was also measured by weight. 



Since soda-lime takes up water as well as carbon dioxid, it was 

 the most important object of the technic to rid the air of absolutely 

 every trace of moisture before it passed through the weighed ab- 

 sorber. Two large sulfuric acid wash-bottles were placed in the cir- 

 cuit for this purpose. It is obvious that any failure of these wash- 

 bottles to hold the moisture in the expired air must have resulted in 

 an accumulation of water in the soda-lime and, adding to its weight, 

 caused a rise in the quotient. Much as this particular part of the 

 apparatus requires constant attention, therefore, it seems neverthe- 

 less to have been seriously neglected by the authors of the mono- 

 graph. At any rate, in the lengthy discussion of the various possi- 

 bilities of error and of the careful manner in which these possibil- 

 ities were precluded, no allusion is made to this matter. 



Examining the picture of the apparatus, on the front page of the 

 monograph, as well as the diagram in the text, it is evident that not 

 only was the air-drying portion sadly neglected but also its arrange- 

 ment was such as to favor the escape of moisture into the soda-lime. 

 The ingoing tube, as is seen there, extends but a short distance below 

 the surface of the acid and permits the strong current of air to pass 

 speedily through a very small amount of acid, the period of contact 

 between the two being very brief. Considering that the gaseous 

 exchange during work is probably tenfold that during rest, the rate 

 of Ventilation must have been very rapid to free the System of the 

 large quantities of resultant carbon dioxid. There is no direct In- 

 formation on that point but, if we assume that at least 600 liters of 



