FURTHER COMMENT ON MUSCULAR WORK AND 

 RESPIRATORY QUOTIENT 



In my note on " Muscular Work and Respiratory Quotient," in 

 the last number of the Biochemical Bulletin/ it was erroneously 

 stated that Benedict and Cathcart, in their monograph on this sub- 

 ject, did not mention the rate at which the air was circulated in the 

 apparatus used by them for measuring the gaseous metaboHsm of 

 the bicycle rider. I find now, however, an allusion to this matter 

 in the text, according to which a tremendous Ventilation of 85 liters 

 per minute was maintained during a work experiment, and I am 

 glad to correct the error committed in my note. 



In discussing the shortcomings of Benedict and Cathcart's tech- 

 nic, I assumed that probably 600 liters of air passed through the 

 sulfuric acid in the course of a work experiment. Since these ex- 

 periments usually lasted ten minutes, a Ventilation of 60 liters per 

 minute, or one liter per second, was postulated in my argument. 

 Considering the peculiar arrangement of the sulfuric acid absorp- 

 tion System in their apparatus, it must have been impossible to free 

 such a rapid current of saturated air of all its moisture. Now, 

 according to Benedict and Cathcart's own Statement, 85 liters of 

 air instead of 60, as I had assumed, were actually passed through 

 the sulfuric acid wash bottle every minute, or practically one and 

 a half liters per second. 



It is obvious that while I erred in "saying that no information 

 is given in the monograph regarding the rate of Ventilation, my 

 argument is strengthened by the fact alluded to above and which 

 was overlooked in the preparation of my first note on this subject 



Sergius Morgulis 



College of Physicians and Surgeons, 

 Columbia University, New York. 



1 Morgulis : Biochemical Bulletin, 1914, iii, p. 435. 



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