NUTRITION LABORATORY. 249 



has been undertaken to secure data regarding the metabohsm of 

 normal women. Mr. L. E. Emmes, of the laboratory staff, has been 

 in charge of this research and nearly everj^ day a new subject has 

 been studied for the respiratory exchange in the post-absorptive 

 state, i. e., at least twelve hours after the last meal. The amount of 

 data thus far accumulated is already considerable, but it will be 

 supplemented as opportunity offers. In connection with the data 

 being secured by Dr. Roth, of Battle Creek, these results should con- 

 siderably extend our knowledge of the normal metabolism of women. 



METABOLISM DURING AN EXPERIMENTALLY INDUCED ACIDOSIS. 



The intimate relationship between acidosis and the increased me- 

 tabolism in diabetes mellitus has led to a further substantiation of 

 several preliminary experiments made a few years ago, in which a 

 normal individual showed, as a result of the ingestion of a carbohy- 

 drate-free diet, an acidosis which led to an increased metabolism. 

 During the latter part of 1912 experiments covering several days 

 were made with four different subjects. The diet was carefully 

 regulated and practically carbohydrate-free. The metabolism and 

 the intensity of the acidosis were accurately studied. This series of 

 experiments illustrates admirably the possibilities of research work 

 in a laboratory of this type, since a large corps of assistants was 

 able to study simultaneously a number of subjects, the diet, routine, 

 and the normal control being identical in all cases. 



ALVEOLAR AIR. 



By means of the respiration apparatus, with its attached spir- 

 ometer, it is possible to obtain in each respiration experiment the 

 carbon-dioxide output, the ventilation of the lungs, and the respira- 

 tion-rate. When determinations of the alveolar air by the Haldane 

 method are made immediately before or after the experiment — 

 the subject being in the same position as during the experimental 

 period — it has been possible to calculate the dead space in breathing 

 by a method similar to that recently described by Douglas and 

 Haldane. With the same individual in the same position the volume 

 of the dead space has been found to be very constant. Knowing 

 the dead space, and reversing the calculation, it is also possible to 

 obtain the alveolar air in each respiration experiment, from which 

 one can learn whether or not the results obtained in a respiration 

 experiment may have been due to abnormal respiration rather than 

 to metabolic changes. 



With the Haldane method studies were made (1) of the changes in 

 the aveolar air due to the ingestion of food and (2) of a subject in 

 different positions. The carbon-dioxide tension was found to be 



