19171 POODS HUMAN NUTRITION. 267 



" The stimulation of metabolism following a large amount of meat is almost 

 at its height two hours after the meal is eaten. The extra heat produced may 

 amount to three-quarters of the calories in the protein metabolized, and may 

 lead to an increase of 46 per cent above the level of the basal heat production. 



" The specific dynamic action of a meal containing 24 gm. of nitrogen in the 

 form of meat was larger in the case of a legless man and of an achondroplastlc 

 dwarf with very small arms and legs and normal trunk than in the cases of 

 three normal controls of greater weight and greater surface area. This indi- 

 cates that the intensity of the specific dynamic action is not proportional to 

 the mass of the musculature. The true explanation of the results can not be 

 given in the light of present knowledge. Various possible explanations come 

 naturally to mind, such, for example, as a greater concentration of amino acids 

 in the blood flowing to the muscles, or the presence of a liver, which, in pro- 

 portion to the size of the organism, is relatively larger than the normal." 



XXII. The respiratory metabolism in nephritis, by J. C. Aub, E. F. Du Bois, 

 and G. F. Soderstrom (pp. 865-889). — This paper reports the results of studies, 

 in the respiration calorimeter, of 10 individuals suffering from nephritis. The 

 following are quotations from the author's summary : 



" In most of the patients with greatly increased blood pressure the metabolism 

 was higher than in tJie other nephritics with lower blood pressures. Most of 

 the patients with marked dyspnea showed some increase in metabolism. . . . 



" The respiratory quotients are all within normal limits, showing that 

 nephritics derive their energy from very much the same proportions of the 

 various foodstuffs as do normal men. . . . 



" The normal quotients found in patients with low carbon dioxid combining 

 capacity of the plasma prove that nephritic acidosis is not caused by difficulty 

 in oxidizing carbohydrates." 



XXIII. The effect of Roentgen-ray and radium therapy on the metabolism 

 of a patient with lymphatic leukemia, by J. B. Murphy, J. H. Means, and J. C. 

 Aub (pp. 890-907, figs. 3). 



XXIV. Metabolism in three unusual cases of diabetes, by F. C. Gephart, J. C. 

 Aub, E. F. Du Bois, G. Lusk, and G. F. Soderstrom (pp. 908-930). 



XXV. The water eliniination through skin and respiratory passages in health 

 and disease, by G. F. Soderstrom and E. F. Du Bois (pp. 931-957). As a result 

 of these experiments the authors state that the technique of determining the 

 water eliminated from the skin and respiratory passages of the subject in a 

 respiration chamber is exceedingly difficult for the following reasons : Moisture 

 will be deposited on the contents of the chamber if the humidity of the air in 

 the chamber rises, and water will be removed which was not eliminated by the 

 subject in the experimental period if the relative humidity of the air in the 

 chamber falls. Over 300 experiments were made with the Sage calorimeter at 

 an air temperature of 22 to 25° O. and a relative humidity between 30 and 50 

 per cent. For purposes of comparison, all experiments were excluded in which 

 the relative humidity changed more than 10 per cent during the observation 

 period. A table is given showing the water vaporization of different groups of 

 subjects studied under different conditions of growth, temperature, and ventila- 

 tion. 



" Normal men 20 to 50 years old under the standard conditions excrete on an 

 average 29 gm. water an hour (about 700 gm. a day) through skin and air 

 passages, losing in this manner 24 per cent of the total heat produced. Few 

 normal men depart more than one-tenth from this figure. All the results on 

 groups of patients are compared with this standard figure of 24 per cent 

 ±0.1. Boys 12 to 13 years old give figures close to the upper limit and very 

 old men lose almost the same percentage of calories in vaporization. Dwarfs 



