NUTRITION LABORATORY. 295 



PUBLICATIONS. 

 The following publications have been issued during the year : 



(1) The influence of food, posture, ana other factors on the alveolar carbon-dioxide tension 

 in man. Harold L. Higgins. Am, Jour. Physiol., 34, p. 114 (1914). 



The alveolar carbon-dioxide tension as an index of the degree of acidosis has 

 become of considerable importance in recent years, especially in cases of 

 diabetes. This paper deals with variations which normally may occur in the 

 alveolar carbon-dioxide tension, under conditions ordinarily met with, espe- 

 cially as to the influence of different body positions and the taking of food; 

 facts were found which may be of value for interpreting the alveolar carbon- 

 dioxide data secured with diabetics. The data obtained also offer material 

 bearing on the physiology of respiration and the respiratory center, especially 

 in its relation to the vaso-motor center. 



It was found that: 



(1) The alveolar carbon-dioxide tension rose after the taking of food and 

 remained high so long as food was in active digestion. 



(2) The alveolar carbon-dioxide tension was higher with a relaxed position 

 than with an erect position. Thus, it was higher when the subject was sitting 

 than when standing and still higher when lying down. 



(3) Coffee, without food, caused a rise of the alveolar carbon-dioxide tension. 

 These changes seem to be due to some factor other than (or in addition to) 

 that of hydrogen-ion concentration of the blood affecting the respiratory center. 



(2) The gaseous metabolism of infants with special reference to its relation to pulse-rate and 

 muscular activity. Francis G. Benedict and Fritz B. Talbot. Publication No. 

 201, Carnegie Institution of Washington (1914). 



A complete historical review of all the literature on the gaseous exchange and 

 calorimetry of infants is followed by a presentation of several important 

 problems in this field, A respiration apparatus, measuring simultaneously 

 carbon-dioxide production and oxygen consumption and provided with a 

 sensitive arrangement for registering automatically and graphically the 

 slightest body movement, was used to study 37 infants during approximately 

 800 periods of observation. Continuous records of the pulse-rate and a 

 graphic representation of the degree of muscular repose enabled many impor- 

 tant correlations with the respiratory studies, 



A series of 12-hour continuous pulse records, accompanied by ocular obser- 

 vations of the degree of repose, showed a sudden and considerable increase of 

 the pulse-rate with crying or nursing and a rapid return to the low level with 

 cessation of crying and feeding, 



A comparison of the pulse-rate with the muscular activity as determined by 

 the kymograph records of a swinging crib showed invariably a close agreement. 

 The metabolism also increased or decreased as the pulse-rate and activity 

 increased or decreased. Distinct evidence of an increased pulse-rate and 

 metabolism independent of external activity was interpreted as being an 

 indication of internal work and suggested the pulse-rate as an index of this 

 internal work. 



Particular stress was laid upon a comparative study of the basal metaboUsm 

 of the infants, i. e., the metabolism during complete muscular repose as shown 

 by the kymograph records. Under these conditions it was found that while, 

 in general, the smaller infants had the smaller total metabolism, there were 

 sufficient striking exceptions to prevent the formulation of a definite law. 

 Similarly, there was no uniformity in the metabolism per kilogram of body- 



