SUMMARY OF RESULTS. 697 



We thus have a total energy output, computed on this basis, of 

 2,182 calories. The element of greatest uncertainty in the whole com- 

 putation is admittedly the last factor, namely, the energy due to exer- 

 cise greater than walking. Possibly, also, the increase above basal 

 due to the sitting should be somewhat greater than it is, for one can 

 conceive of students giving off a very considerable amount of heat 

 when sitting and gesticulating. A recent series of experiments at the 

 Nutrition Laboratory with several groups of Simmons College students 

 has shown that reading aloud has a strikingly small effect upon the 

 quiet resting metabolism, so we are inclined to think that our figure of 

 10 per cent is not far from correct. A comparison of this total figure 

 of 2,182 calories with the average net calories in the diet for these 3 

 days (2,245 calories) is of interest. This agreement is in all probabihty 

 a fortuitous one, as it would assume a long-established body-weight, 

 which previous discussion has shown was not actual, especially on these 

 last few days. We introduce this method of calculation, however, 

 in part to illustrate the great significance of an accurate knowledge of 

 the 24-hour basal requirement as the foundation for computing the 

 probable daily heat output. 



From the gaseous-metabolism measurements, therefore, which 

 show a profound reduction in the basal metabolism on the two different 

 types of apparatus and from the dietetic intake as calculated from the 

 net calories, it is clear that the energy requirements of these men were 

 very much lower at the end of the experiment than they were at the 

 beginning with normal diet. A computation of the probable dietetic 

 requirements of these men during the last three days of the diet seems to 

 substantiate fully the inferences drawn from the other criteria, and it is 

 quite clear that these men were subsisting upon a diet fully one-third less 

 than that normally required. The full significance of this, however, 

 lies not so much in the fact that there was an actual reduction 

 of one-third, but that it implies distinctly that there must have been a 

 proportionately great reduction of the energy demands for work other 

 than the basal maintenance. The results obtained in the treadmill 

 experiments showed clearly that the energy for forward progression, i.e., 

 the amount of energy required to move 1 kilogram 1 horizontal meter 

 was appreciably lower when the men were on restricted diet than with 

 normal diet. In connection with that discussion it was pointed out that 

 although we could speak with certainty only of this particular tj^pe of 

 muscular work, yet we have every reason to believe that the same 

 efficiency of muscular coordination would obtain with other types of 

 muscular work. This suggests a greatly lowered energy requirement 

 for all of the activities of the day not merely in the lying position and 

 post-absorptive condition, nor only when walking on the treadmill, but 

 likewise in all the extraneous activities entering into the daily life. 



