NUTRITION LABORATORY. 



193 



<3) The energy metabolism of mother and child just before and just after birth. 



Thorne M. Carpenter and John R. Murlin. Archives of Internal Medicine, 7, 



p. I. 191 1. 

 A series of 31 metabolism experiments upon 3 parturient women was car- 

 ried out by means of the bed respiration calorimeter, and are reported in this 

 paper. The total metabolism as measured by the respiratory exchange and 

 the heat production was periodically determined on all 3 subjects in a fasting 

 condition within two weeks of the birth of the child, and also within 48 hours 

 after parturition. In some of the experiments after the birth of the child, 

 the metabolism of the mother alone was measured. During the period cov- 

 ered by the experiments, the subjects were kept in a local hospital and iipon 

 a constant diet. The pulse, respiration, and body temperature were obtained 

 daily at the hospital, as well as during the experimental periods with the 

 calorimeter. It was found that the metabolism of mother and child before 

 and after parturition was the same in total amount ; but, expressed per unit 

 of body-weight, the metabolism of the newly delivered woman was about 7 

 per cent higher than that of the same woman before the birth of the child, 

 and the metabolism of the pregnant subject was slightly higher than that of 

 normal women. Considered per unit of surface, the pregnant woman had a 

 higher metabolism, than the non-pregnant, and the newly delivered woman 

 higher than either. The total metabolism of the child alone per unit of 

 weight, which was found by deducting the amount of the metabolism of the 

 mother from that of the mother and child, was about two and one-half times 

 that of the mother. Expressed per unit of surface, the metabolism was not 

 greater than that of the nursing mother, but higher than that of the non- 

 pregnant woman. 



(4) Effects on men at rest of breathing oxygen-rich gas mixtures. Francis G. Benedict 

 and Harold L. Higgins. Amer. Jour. Physiol., 28, p. i. 191 1. 



The extensive bedside use of oxygen in therapy and the use of oxygen- 

 rich atmospheres in diving appliances, rescue-saving apparatus, and in the 

 regeneration of air in submarines lend additional interest to a study of the 

 question as to whether or not there is an increased or decreased absorption 

 of oxygen with oxygen-rich mixtures. In the extensive series of experi- 

 ments reported in this paper, the oxygen consumption was determined when 

 the subjects were breathing ordinary air ; also when breathing atmospheres 

 containing varying quantities of oxygen, namely, 40, 60, and 90 per cent. 

 The results expressed in the following table show that essentially the same 

 amount of oxygen was absorbed whether ordinary air vv^as breathed or atmos- 

 pheres containing 40 per cent, 60 per cent, or even 90 per cent of oxygen : 



Percentage comparison of oxygen absorbed in experiments zvith different tensions. 



13— YB 



