BLOOD PRESSURE. 381 



The systolic pressures for four of Squad B were somewhat lower in 

 the first quarter minute than they were before work, but with the 

 majority of the men they were perceptibly higher. The averages 

 show, however, practically no change, being 101 nam. before, and 102 

 mm. for the first quarter minute after.^ It is to be noted, however, 

 that whatever level the systolic blood pressure assumed after walking, 

 it remained reasonably constant for at least 2 minutes with practically 

 all of the men. As was found with Squad A no pronounced change 

 in systolic pressure was noted with the men in Squad B when they 

 assumed the sitting position. 



The values for the diastolic pressures, when compared with those 

 found the evening before, are ahnost always considerably higher, 

 the most striking case being that of Ham, whose diastoHc pressure the 

 evening before was 55 mm. and in the morning prior to walking was 

 83 mm. The average diastolic pressure the evening before was 64 

 mm. ; in the morning it was 78 mm. The immediate effect of walking 

 was, in general, to lower appreciably the diastolic pressure at the end 

 of the first quarter minute. This is in conformity with the findings 

 noted with Squad A. Although with Squad A four cases of positive 

 increment were found, with Squad B there were only two cases that did 

 not show a measurable fall. The course of the diastolic pressure 

 during the succeeding minutes tended almost uniformly to rise slightly. 

 Thus, the diastolic pressure at the end of the second minute was in 8 

 instances higher than it was at the end of the first quarter minute, a 

 phenomenon likewise observed in about the same degree in the case 

 of Squad A. The increase between the first quarter minute and 2 or 

 2.5 minutes was 10 nam. in the case of Fis, 12 mm. with Sch, and 10 

 nun. with Liv and Sne. These increments are for the most part some- 

 what greater than those found with Squad A. 



In comparing the pulse pressure of the men in Squad B, taken in 

 the standing position before work on the morning of January 28, with 

 that found the evening before with the men in the sitting position, 

 we find that in general the pulse pressure was somewhat lower in the 

 morning than it was in the evening, the evening average being 30 

 mm., and the morning average 23 mm. This difference is slightly 

 greater than that observed with Squad A, i. e., 7 mm. as against 

 2 mm. for Squad A. Here again we find that the walking in prac- 

 tically every instance increased the pulse pressure, the one exception 

 being that of Sch, his initial pulse pressure being 42 mm. and that 

 in the first quarter minute after walking 30 mm. The subsequent 

 course of the records following work shows a distinct tendency for 

 the pulse pressure to become somewhat smaller as time went on, 

 and at the end of 9 minutes with the subject in a sitting position the 



1 The increases of 3 mm. with Squad A and 1 mm. with Squad B are wholly incomparable with 

 the normal rises recorded by Cotton, Rapport, and Lewis (Heart, 1917, 6, p. 269) of 15 to 45 

 mm., although both the kind and amount of work in the several cases are not strictly comparable. 



