INTRODUCTION. 19 



studied with temperatures varying from 16.9° C. to 23.4° C. The 

 results of this second experiment substantiated those obtained with 

 the first infant, and the authors feel justified in concluding that the 

 slight temperature changes found in experiments with an apparatus of 

 the Regnault-Reiset type are entirely without influence upon the metab- 

 olism of the individuals studied. 



The same investigators, 1 with a keen appreciation of the influence of 

 muscular activity upon metabolism, compared the results of observa- 

 tions with an infant who cried continuously for an hour with those 

 obtained when the infant was approximately quiet. They estimated 

 that the crying increased the carbon-dioxide production 59.4 per cent 

 and the oxygen consumption 44 per cent. 



In still another paper Schlossmann 2 discusses the general principles 

 involved in the measurement of the respiratory exchange of infants and 

 emphasizes the necessity of muscular repose and the absence of food, 

 and the importance of measuring the basal metabolism. He again 

 asserts that the heat per square meter of body-surface is constant and 

 maintains that this is a proof that the metabolism of young individuals 

 is not variable. In this paper, also, he discusses the amount of work 

 the infant does, basing the discussion upon results obtained in his 

 experiments with crying infants. In many of his experiments Schloss- 

 mann measured the skin-temperature of the infant by electrical methods 

 and found that there was no increase in the temperature. 



In a paper discussing his earlier experiments on infants of varying 

 ages and particularly those with an atrophic infant, Schlossmann 

 opposes the views defended by Kassowitz 3 that the metabolism in 

 smaller animals is more intense than in the large animals and that there 

 is no relationship between the metabolism and the body-surface. 4 

 Schlossmann maintains that atrophic infants have a higher metabolism 

 per unit of body-surface than normal infants, but that this points to the 

 correctness of the Rubner law, since with these infants the relation 

 between body-surface and body-weight is abnormal. As he made no 

 measurements of the body-surface of these infants — a procedure that 

 necessitated an enormous amount of work — no direct evidence is offered 

 to show that there was an actual disproportion between the body-surface 

 and the body-weight. 



In a paper which appeared after the publication of Schlossmann's 

 criticism, Kassowitz 5 sums up his arguments against the belief that 

 the metabolism is proportional to the body-surface and using Schloss- 

 mann's own protocols criticizes adversely the latter's deductions. 



Schlossmann and Murschhauser, Biochem, Zeitschr., 1911, 37, p. 23. 

 Schlossmann, Deutsche med. Wochenschr., 1911, 37, p. 1633. 

 3 Kassowitz, Allgemeine Biologie, Vienna, 1904, 3, p. 221. 

 Schlossmann, Zeitschr. f. Kinderheilk., 1912-13, 5, p. 227. 

 B Kassowitz, Zeitschr. f. Kinderheilk., 1913, 6, p. 240. 



