NUTRITION LABORATORY.* 

 Francis G. Benedict, Director. 



While the internal affairs of the Laboratory have proceeded with 

 reasonable rapidity and satisfaction, its environment has undergone 

 radical changes. When the Laboratory was built, literally in the 

 center of a vacant area, the probabilities of neighboring institutions 

 were only dimly indicated on the engineer's blue prints. The fall 

 of 1913 saw the completion and occupation of the large Peter Bent 

 Brigham Hospital, the Collis P. Huntington Memorial Hospital, and 

 the completion of the Infants' Hospital and the Children's Hospital. 

 Active cooperation between the Laboratory and these institutions 

 is finally assured. 



The flexibility of construction of the Nutrition Laboratory sought 

 for in the original design was well shown recently by the complete 

 reconstruction of one room in the Laboratorj^ converting it from a 

 chemical laboratory to a laboratory for physiological psychology. 

 A balcony for records and for desk-room has been built and the 

 main floor arranged for psychological tests. Photographic registra- 

 tion may be secured without difficulty, as the walls and ceiling of the 

 room have been painted black and special shutters provided at the 

 window. One corner has also been arranged as a dark room. The 

 simple brick-wall construction of the building, without furring or 

 plaster, and the absence of concealed pipes, made the complete 

 reconstruction of this room a matter of relatively slight expense. 



ADDITIONS TO EQUIPMENT. 

 CALORIMETER FOR MUSCULAR WORK. 



The successful prosecution of a research on muscular work, in 

 conjunction with Dr. E. T. Cathcart, of Glasgow, Research Associate 

 of the Institution for 1911-12, emphasized the need for the immedi- 

 ate construction of a large respiration calorimeter to be devoted to 

 experiments on muscular work; this had long been projected and in 

 part built, but during the past 3'ear the construction was hastened 

 and, at the moment of writing, the apparatus is practicallj' ready 

 for testing. In its construction we benefited ver,y much by the 

 experience of Professor Graham Lusk, of the Gornell LTni versify 

 Medical School, who has built a respiration calorimeter after the 

 design of the bed calorimeter in this laboratory, but with improved 

 insulating material. 



*Situated at Boston, Massachusetts. Grant No. 860. $46,.549 for investigations and 

 maintenance during 1918. (For previous reports on work in nutrition see Year Books 

 Nos. 2-11.) 



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