PULSE-RATE. 405 



With Squad B we have certain values for comparison which may be 

 taken as normal, i. e., those for December 15 and January 5. In table 

 87 we have again adopted the arbitrary procedure of italicizing all 

 values of 40 and below. The lowest absolute value found in any 

 instance is 37 with Liv on the evening of January 27. Most of the 

 italicized figures fall in count No. 5, a condition likewise observed in 

 the case of Squad A. 



In general, the normal values found on January 5 or prior thereto 

 are not greatly altered on January 13 (the first session with reduced 

 diet); the only striking exceptions to this uniformity are with How 

 and Sch. It would thus appear that one week of reduced diet was 

 not sufficient to affect greatly the pulse values for this squad when 

 taken with the men in the sitting position and undergoing the moderate 

 intellectual and physical activity of the psychological tests. On the 

 other hand, an examination of all the data for January 19 and 27 shows 

 almost invariably marked decreases in pulse-rate for all the counts. 

 Thus we have a clear picture during the last two sessions of a decided 

 influence of the reduced diet upon the sitting pulse taken under 

 conditions of the psychological session at the Nutrition Laboratory. 



Although as a rule the values in column 6 are greater than those in 

 column 5, too many irregularities exist to permit of any definite de- 

 duction being drawn. The pronounced influence of the reduced diet 

 shown in table 87, especially after the first week, is in complete har- 

 mony with the effect noted in tables 80 to 82 upon the resting pulse- 

 rate taken with the men in both squads in the lying position. These 

 sitting pulse-rates, which were influenced more or less by minor 

 activity and particularly by food in the stomach, have by no means the 

 significance of the basal morning pulse, but they serve to show that 

 not only is the quiescent resting pulse profoundly affected by the 

 dietetic regime, but that the sitting pulse following digestion is like- 

 wise affected. The fact that with Squad B this influence is hardly 

 appreciable at the end of the first week of dieting is of significance 

 when it is considered that these men were upon a diet representing 

 approximately but one-third of their previous maintenance require- 

 ments. Pulse data of this character are especially helpful in suggest- 

 ing the probability that the total heart action and metabolism are 

 profoundly depressed by the low diet, not only during periods of com- 

 plete muscular repose, but likewise under conditions of moderate 

 intellectual and physical activity, complicated in part by digestive 

 processes, although, owing to the extraordinarily reduced diet, it is 

 hardly to be presumed that the influence of the ingestion of food is at 

 all comparable to that existing under normal conditions. 



PULSE RECORDS AT MEAL TIMES. 



Through the kindness of Mr. Charles Wesley Davis, of the Y. M. 

 C. A. College, we are permitted to use some pulse-rate data obtained 



