64 EXPERIMENT STATION RECORD. ITol. 38 



places investigated. One of the worst conditions noted was the lack of screen- 

 ing or other means of protecting the food from domestic animals and flies and 

 from handling by prospective buyers. Fruit, cakes, pies, bread, candy, and 

 meats were very frequently exposed to such contamination. Conditions in mu- 

 nicipal markets were found to be generally worse than in the stores, the sani- 

 tary condition of the sheds being bad and practically all of the foods exposed. 

 As a result of the study, legislation and changes in the organization of the 

 city health department were recommended. The publication contains several 

 illustrations, maps, and tables, which present the results of the investigation. 



Food inspection service in Philadelphia (Rpt. Henry Phipps Inst. [Univ. 

 Penn.], 12 {1916), pp. 57-94, fiff^. 13). — This report describes and criticizes the 

 food-inspection service of the city and recommends means for overcoming its 

 limitations and objectionable features. It is based upon the study reported 

 above. 



A photographic method for measuring the surface area of the (human) 

 body, F. G. Benedict (A7ner. Jour. Physiol., 41 (1916), No. 3, pp. 215-291, 

 figs. 5). — A method is described which establishes a relationship between the 

 area of the body as computed from photographic views of certain definite poses 

 of the nude figure (particularly a side view with arm extended) and the area 

 9S actually determined by the linear formula of DuBois (E. S. R., 35, p. 370). 



" Comparisons between the photographed areas and the body surface as com- 

 puted from the DuBois linear formula show, even with the most diverse con- 

 figurations of body, a constancy rarely observed in anatomical measurements 

 or in computed ratios based upon such measurements." 



The relationship between body surface and heat production especially 

 during prolonged fasting, F. G. Benedict {Amer. Jour. Physiol., 41 {1916), 

 Xo. S, pp. 292-308). — A historical review is given of the development of the idea 

 of proportionality between the area of the body surface and heat production. 

 Employing the photographic method described in the above article, the body 

 area of the subject of a 31 -day fasting experiment (E. S. R., 33, p. 566) and 

 the heat production per square meter of body surface were recomputed. 



" The values obtained showed a deci'ease similar to that previously found. 

 The decrease in the heat production per sqaure meter of body surface amounted 

 to 28 per cent, a decrease that can be interpreted only as proof of the inappli- 

 cability of the surface area law to subjects with widely varying states of nutri- 

 tion. This shows it to be impossible to compare a standard value obtained with 

 a large number of robust, normal individuals with that obtained with emaciated 

 diabetics, and thus supplies strong proof of the legitimacy and practicability 

 of the group system of comparing pathological cases with normal individuals 

 of like height and weight, i. e., of general anatomical and morphological simi- 

 larity." 



The effects of exposure to cold upon experimental infection of the respira- 

 tory tract, J. A. Miller and W. C. Noble {Jour. Expt. Med., 24 {1916), No. S, pp. 

 223-232). — The experiments here reported are part of a series carried out by 

 the New York State Ventilation Commission to determine the physiological 

 effect of low temperatures. Laboratory animals (rabbits), after being subject 

 to sudden changes of temperature from hot to cold and cold to hot, were in- 

 oculated by spraying the mucous membranes of the nose and throat with a live 

 culture of Bavillas hovisepticus, an organism pathogenic to rabbits. The fol- 

 lowing conclusions are drawn from these experiments. 



" Respiratory infection of rabbits with B. bovisepticus (snuffles) is favored 

 by chilling the animals after they have been accustomed to heat. 



" The character of this disease, which occurs frequently in rabbits under 

 natural conditions, makes the application of the exi)erimental results to similar 



