404 VITALITY AND EFFICIENCY WITH RESTRICTED DIET. 



lying position, we have adhered to the procedure followed in table 80 

 of itaUcizing all pulse values between 40 and 36, inclusive, and giving 

 in bold-face type the occasional records which are 35 or below. In 

 interpreting the results of these pulse records in table 86 it should be 

 borne in mind that all values were taken subsequent to the ingestion of 

 food. As may be seen from the program for the day (see p. 59), the 

 first count was approximately an hour after the standard restaurant 

 supper eaten by the men on their visit to Boston. Counts Nos. 1 and 

 2 were made simultaneously by the entire squad. Counts Nos. 3, 4, 5, 

 and 6 varied somewhat in time, as they were recorded in the intermis- 

 sion of the individual psychological tests which were given to the men 

 in order during the evening and again on the following morning. Even 

 with this variation in time, none of the subjects were in the post- 

 absorptive condition and the influence of food ingestion as well as that 

 of the sitting position must be recognized in comparing these pulse 

 values with other series. 



Noting first the course of the pulse values obtained by the subjects 

 themselves in the first three counts of each evening, we find that the 

 first count for Squad A (that for December 8) was made when the sub- 

 jects had been for several weeks on reduced diet. On February 2 the 

 pulse-rate was in most instances somewhat higher than on the other 

 days, and the men were evidently more or less stimulated by the fact 

 that this was the last session. 



The pulse-rates on December 19 and January 12 and 26 were 

 reasonably uniform, although the values for January 12 have a 

 tendency to be higher than on either of the other days. No basal pulse 

 counts were obtained under these conditions, either prior to the low 

 diet or after normal diet was resumed. Values between 40 and 36 

 occur with 6 subjects and values of 35 or below with 3 subjects. The 

 absolute minimum was observed with Vea, in count No. 5 on the even- 

 ing of January 26, with a low value of 33. In general the pulse had a 

 tendency to fall off as the evening progressed, the highest value appear- 

 ing in count No. 1 and the lowest usually in count No. 5. The count 

 taken the following morning usually shows values higher than the last 

 count in the preceding evening. Only 2 pulse-rates of 40 appear in the 

 No. 6 values. The difference between Nos. 5 and 6, or the last record 

 of the evening and the first record of the morning, is, in the case of Bro, 

 very shght. With the other subjects it is pronounced, showing on the 

 whole a real difference in metabolic level. This may in part be ascribed 

 to the fact that the pulse records in the morning were usually taken not 

 long after breakfast and following the incidental activity of rising, 

 leaving the respiration chamber, walking up a flight of stairs, dressing, 

 eating breakfast, and going downstairs to the psychological laboratory, 

 an activity which was as a rule considerably more marked than that 

 preceding the counts on the evening before. 



