470 EXPERIMENT STATION RECORD. 



The commissary department in naval hospitals, P. A. Lovering (U. S. 

 Naval Med. Bui, 4 (1910), No. 2, pp. 135-1 J/S). — The author discusses the 

 problems which must be solved in supplying an adequate and satisfactory diet 

 in naval hospitals, and recommends the organization of a training school for 

 the personnel of the commissary staff. The article as a whole contains data 

 on general problems of institution management with special reference to the 

 preparation of food and other questions of dietetics. 



Sug'gestions for diet kitchen equipment, S. Wierzbicki ( U. 8. Naval Med. 

 Bui. 4 {1910), No. 2, pp. 161-163, dgms. 2).— It is pointed out that a kitchen 

 from which regular meals are to be distributed and in which light food can be 

 prepared for patients and cooking done by a nurse for patients requiring nour- 

 ishment between regular meal hours must also serve as a place where staple 

 articles for preparation of light diets are kept and where ice is on hand for 

 ward uses. The author describes in detail the equipment which has been 

 planned to meet these requirements for the men's infirmary diet kitchen at the 

 United States Naval Hos])ital at Las Animas, Colo. 



The influence of lecithin upon metabolism, S. Yoshimoto (Ztsehr. Physiol. 

 Chem., 64 {1910), No. 5-6, pp. 7/6/,--',7S).— The author studied the retention of 

 nitrogen and phosphorus in periods in which lecithin preparations were fed as 

 compared with data obtained in control periods. The tests were made with a 

 dog as subject. 



The after-effects of severe muscular work on metabolism, A. Jaquet {Arch. 

 Expt. Path. u. Phannakol., 62 {1910), No. J,-5, pp. 341-356).— The special ques- 

 tion which the author studied was the effect of muscular work at high altitude 

 as shown by the changes in the respiratory quotient and by the metabolism of 

 nitrogen. The mineral constituents of the urine were also taken into account. 



Respiration calorimeters for studying the respiratory exchange and 

 energy transformations of man, F. G. Benedict and T. M. Carpenter {Car- 

 negie Infit. Washington Pub. 123, pp. VII+102, ph. 5, figs. 25). — The respiration 

 calorimeters in use at the Nutrition Research Laboratory of the Carnegie 

 Institution are described in detail. A general plan is given of the calorimeter 

 laboratory, the principles involved in the construction of the calorimeter con- 

 sidered, descriptions of the different parts of the apparatus given, and the 

 calculation of results explained. The descriptions are illustrated with dia- 

 grams and reproductions of photogi-aphs. and to make the matter plain an 

 account is also given of the routine of an experiment with a man as subject. 



Control tests of a respiration calorimeter, F. G. Benedict, J. A. Riche, and 

 L. E. Emmes (Amer. Jour. Physiol., 26 {1910). No. 1, pp. 1-14)- — Experiments 

 designed to show the accuracy of the respiration calorimeter are reported. 



According to the authors, " the final test of the apparatus, ... is to burn 

 in the chamber such small quantities of alcohol as will yield amounts of water, 

 carbon dioxid, and heat approximating the amounts eliminated by man in 

 periods as short as one hour when at rest inside the chamber. By means of the 

 calorimetric and chemical features of the apparatus, measurements can be made 

 of the total amount of heat eliminated, water vaporized, carbon dioxid pro- 

 duced, and oxygen consumed. The results of such experiments show that with 

 all four factors there is a most satisfactory agreement between the amounts 

 measured and the theoretical amounts. . . . 



" To obtain duplicate results in the determination of a single element or 

 radicle by chemical analysis frequently requires a number of determinations, 

 and when two factors are simultaneously determined [as is the case with the 

 respiration calorimeter], as carbon and hydrogen in elementary organic analysis, 

 still greater difliculty is experienced. It can therefore easily be seen that the 

 simultaneous determination of four factors presents a problem that is rarely 



