394 VITALITY AND EFFICIENCY WITH RESTRICTED DIET. 



the left foot of the subject was placed in a vessel of saline solution. On 

 the morning of December 20, when the subjects were in the post- 

 absorptive condition and before any of them were awake, the observers 

 entered the chamber to connect them in turn to the string galvanometer. 

 They had, of course, previously been informed what was to be done. 

 It was, however, impossible to connect a subject without waking him 

 and without stimulating the circulation more or less. The men re- 

 mained very quiet; most of those who were not used as subjects con- 

 tinued sleeping. Tracings from the three standard leads were taken 

 for Kon, Pea, and Pec. Even though the arms and left foot were 

 bathed in an alcohol solution to reduce the tissue resistance, this 

 remained, in general, quite high, i. e., from 4,000 to 9,000 ohms, in 

 spite of the fact that an interval was allowed for the skin to become 

 soaked and in good conducting condition. 



Even with three observers cooperating it required some time to secure 

 satisfactory tracings from a subject, and since tissue resistance under 

 these conditions was higher than desired, it was decided to continue 

 taking the records with the subject recUning in a steamer chair rather 

 than lying on his back. Both arms and the left foot were placed in 

 large pans of saline solution, which were arranged as non-polarizable 

 electrodes. In this way a minimum of time was required in adjust- 

 ing the subject to the electrodes, and there was a good opportunity 

 for him to become relaxed and indifferent to the conditions. Thus, 

 in the later records of the morning of December 20, the subject walked 

 up the steps out of the respiration chamber and down another stair- 

 way to the level of the floor, stopped at the urine jar, and then came 

 directly to the psychological laboratory, where he reclined in a steamer 

 chair. Tracings from the three standard leads were taken in this 

 position for Bro, Kon, Moy, Pec, and Vea. The tissue resistance under 

 this condition ranged from 600 to 3,500 ohms.^ 



On February 2 at 4 p. m. — i. e., just before the standard evening 

 meal — three of the subjects on whom electrocardiograms had pre- 

 viously been taken came to the Laboratory again for this purpose. 

 These men, Kon, Pea, and Vea, were selected as their pulse-rates were as 

 low as those of any in the squad, if not, indeed, the lowest; furthermore, 

 as these subjects had served in this capacity previously, they would be 

 but little affected by the novelty of the procedure. Arrangements were 

 made on the balcony in the psychological laboratory so that the men 

 could recline upon cots for about 20 minutes before the tracings were 

 taken. The immersion electrodes were again used, and the men 

 reclined in a steamer chair for the measurements. The tissue resistance 

 ranged from 800 to 2,000 ohms; in general the conditions seemed very 

 favorable. 



^ Duplicate records were taken for Pec and Kon, since those made when these subjects were in 

 the respiration chamber were under conditions of 9,000 and 8,000 ohms tissue resist- 

 ance, respectively. 



