NUTRITION LABORATORY. 243 



treatment, under the immediate direction of Dr. E. P. Joslin. The 

 post-fasting period has presented many interesting features; the effect 

 of the ingestion of levulose in varying amounts, particularly its effect 

 upon the respiratory exchange, has also received special attention. 

 The advent of the fasting treatment in diabetes has modified consid- 

 erably the experimental procedure, and diabetics of the earlier well- 

 recognized type are, or at least should be, rare. The details of the 

 respiration apparatus experiments have been in the hands of Miss 

 M. A. Corson, of the Nutrition Laboratory staff. 



METABOLISM OF NORMAL INFANTS. 



The importance of knowing the variations in metaboUsm during 

 growth has led to a protracted study of the resting metabolism of sev- 

 eral normal infants from birth until nearly two years of age. Dr. 

 Talbot has most assiduously followed up these infants and has arranged, 

 in spite of great obstacles, to have them come to the Directory for Wet 

 Nurses of the Boston Infants' Hospital for observation of the respira- 

 tory exchange at intervals of two or three months. In addition to these 

 prolonged studies, data with regard to normal infants from 1 to 2 

 years of age have been rapidly accumulated. The material thus 

 obtained is so extensive that, for the present at least, it is believed we 

 have sufficient data to estabUsh a normal value for infants between 

 birth and approximately 2 years of age. The apparatus has now been 

 transferred to another Boston institution where older children may 

 advantageously be studied, and it is proposed to continue the investi- 

 gations by accumulating data regarding the metabolism of normal, 

 healthy children from 2 to 9 years of age. The importance of this 

 material can scarcely be overstated, when it is considered that the 

 intelligent interpretation of the metabolism measurements in pathology 

 can be made only when an adequate normal series is available. 



CALORIMETRIC STUDIES DURING THE PROCESS OF FATTENING. 



In the conversion of carbohydrate to fat, such as takes place in 

 fattening animals like the goose and pig, certain relationships between 

 oxygen consumption, carbon-dioxide production, and heat-production 

 have been found extremely difficult of satisfactory explanation, thus 

 implying some profound internal molecular rearrangements accompa- 

 nied by energy transformations that as yet are too little understood. 

 An extended series of observations, both on geese and a pig with 

 surfeit feeding, has been carried out the past winter with a new type 

 of respiration calorimeter and the assistance of Miss Alice Johnson. 

 Numerous control experiments during the fasting periods and with an 

 alcohol lamp have accompanied the entire series. The investigation 

 is still being actively continued. 



