756 EXPERIMENT STATION RECORD. 



" When the action of glycocoll and alanin is compared, the quantity of extra 

 heat produced is not found to be proportional to the quantity of sugar formed, 

 but there is some evidence to indicate that one molecule of glycolic acid liber- 

 ated from glycocoll has the same power to increase heat production as one 

 molecule of lactic acid derived from alanin. 



"When carbohydrate is transformed into fat there is a small exothermic 

 elimination of heat, for which due allowance may be made by calculation, 



"After giving glucose 50 gra. with glycocoll 20 gni., the increase in the metabo- 

 lism was almost as great as the sum of the increases induced when each sub- 

 stance was given alone. Alanin 20 gm. followed the same law when given with 

 glucose 50 gm. (This nullifies the authors' former opinion.) 



" The influence upon heat production of 50 gm. of glucose, sucrose, and fruc- 

 tose increases in the order named, which accords with [other investigators]. 

 . . . The increases in single hours may be over 30 per cent above the basal level. 



"After giving 50 gm. of lacto.-^e to the dog there was no increase in metabolism 

 or in the respiratory quotient. 



"After giving 50 gm. of galactose there was little increase in metabolism or 

 in the respiratory quotient. 



" Ethyl glycolate is a poison. 



"Ethyl alcohol in .small amounts (5.8 and 9.4 gm.) increases the level of the 

 basal metabolism and does not merely replace an isodynamic quantity of fat. 



" The resultant of the effect on heat production of ingesting glucose and alco- 

 hol together is nearly equal to the sum of the effects which each would have 

 produced alone. The carbohydrate respiratory quotient is greatly reduced. 



"After giving ethyl lactate it is probable, though not certain, that lactic acid 

 acts as a stimulus to higher metabolism. 



"Administration of phlorizin to a fasting dog may cause an increase in meta- 

 bolism of as high as 70 per cent above the basal value. 



" Glucose 10 gm. or 70 gm. and fructose 10 gm. have no influence upon the 

 level of heat production in phlorizin glycosuria. 



" Glycocoll 12.5 gm. and alanin 20 gm. increase metabolism when they are 

 given to a phlorizinized dog, though they are not oxidized and their energy con- 

 tent is eliminated in the form of sugar and urea in the urine. Since the maxi- 

 mal effect upon heat production coincides with the period of their maximal 

 metabolism, and since evidence exists to show that amino acids themselves do 

 not stimulate metabolism (nullifies former opinion) one may conclude that inter- 

 mediary products such as glycolic acid or lactic acid provide the stimulus. 

 These experiments afford conclusive proof of a true chemical stimulation of 

 protoplasm within the mammalian organism, and offer a logical explanation of 

 the specific dynamic actitjn of protein." 



Calorimetric observations on man, J. S. Macdonald, F. A. Duffield, and K. 

 Lucas {Rpt. Brit. Assoc. Adv. Sci., 1914, pp. 238-241). — ^The experimental work 

 done by the committee in continuation of that previously reported (E. S. R., 

 32, p. 257) is reviewed briefly. Employing the respiration calorimeter, the 

 authors have studied the heat production and re-spiratory exchange of a man 

 performing different amounts of work upon a bicycle ergometer. 



The energy metabolism of 10 hospital children, J. R. Mxjblin and B. R. 

 HooBLER (Amer. Jour. Diseases Children, 9 {1915), No. 2, pp. 81-119, figs. 10). — 

 Using the respiration incubator previously described (E. S. R., 32, p. 860), the 

 authors conducted a series of experiments to study the energy metabolism of 10 

 hospital children of from 2 to 12 months of age, of which the nutritive condi- 

 tion varied from that of the last stage of marasmus to one of considerable over- 

 weight. The heat production was calculated both on the basis of weight and of 

 surface area, and the approximate specific gravity was determined in an at- 



