14 



GASEOUS METABOLISM OF INFANTS. 



The most recent contribution from French laboratories on direct 

 calorimetry with which we are familiar is that of Variot and Lavialle 1 

 in 1912. In this interesting communication, in which the fundamental 

 principles of infant calorimetry are well considered, the authors state 

 that they used the modified form of the d'Arsonval calorimeter which 

 was calibrated by electrical resistance. The gaseous metabolism was 

 not studied and no statement was made as to the muscular activity of 

 the infants. The authors conclude that the heat-output of infants 

 increases in proportion as the weight decreases and lay great emphasis 

 upon the effect of clothing upon radiation. They likewise believe that 

 the supply of adipose tissue may materially modify the radiation. 



Mensi 2 of Turin, without stating the apparatus employed or even the 

 fundamental principle, reports a series of observations on 5 new-born 

 infants varying in age from 6 hours and 5 minutes to 7 days, 17 hours, 

 and 54 minutes. In these experiments the oxygen consumption was 

 determined as well as the carbon-dioxide production. The results are 

 given in table 3. The statement is made that the infants were quiet 

 in each case, but no pulse records are given. 



Table 3. — Summary of experiments on respiratory exchange of new-born infants (Mensi). 



A very interesting series of experiments on infants was carried out 

 by Scherer, in the institute of Professor Mares in Prague, 3 with an 

 apparatus on the Regnault-Reiset principle, the oxygen being supplied 

 from a bomb. The author states that the infants found themselves 

 in " complete physiological conditions" inside the chamber. In this 

 series, 55 experiments were made in the spring and summer and 30 

 experiments in the winter, each one being about 2 hours long. No 

 information is given regarding the activity of the infants or the pulse- 

 rate. The fact that the average respiratory quotients were consider- 

 ably below 0.6 points strongly to an error in the method. The author 

 concludes that the intensity of the respiratory exchange is dependent 

 upon the body-weight and is inversely proportional to it. 



^Variot and Lavialle, Bulletins and Memoires Soc. Med. des Hopitaux de Paris, 1912, 3d ser., 

 33, p. 410. See also Clinique Infantile, 1912, 10. p. 229, and Report of the Congres National 

 des Gouttes de Lait tenu a Fecamp les 26, 27, et 28 Mai, 1912, p. 79, for abstracts of this work. 



2 Mensi, Giorn. d. R. Accad. di Med. di Torino, 1894, 57, p. 301. 



»Scherer, Jahrb. f. Kinderheilk., 1896, N. F., 43, p. 471. 



