610 



JOHN R. MUELIK 



TABLE 20 

 RELATION OF HEAT RADIATION TO SURFACE OF THE ANIMAL BODY (Richet) 



by 12.6. It is evident, Eichet concludes, that the production of heat is a 

 function of the surface and not of the weight of the animal. More nearly 

 basal conditions were observed in experiments accomplished later by Slowt- 

 zoff(a) on dogs and by Kettner on guinea pigs. The former calculated the 

 surface by'Hecker's formula (S =- 12.33 X W % ) and found that the 

 oxygen absorption per unit of surface in animals of different size (5.04 

 'to 38.9 kgm.) "remains fairly constant" (10 per cent mean deviation 

 from the average, as against 12.5 per cent on the basis of weight). 

 Kettner found that the CO 2 production per 100 gm. body weight and 

 hour varied from 0.108 gm. in the largest (full-grown) animals to 0.254 

 gm. in the smallest (and youngest), a difference of 135 per cent, while 

 on the basis of surface the extreme variation was only 30 per cent. 



In the human subject the comparison of basal metabolism per unit 

 of weight with the basal per unit of surface is even more striking. The 

 following table from Gephart and DuBois(&) shows how much more the 

 metabolism of different classes of human individuals differs from the av- 

 erage for adult men on the basis of weight than on the basis of surface. 



TABLE 21 



COMPABISON OF BASAL METABOLISM PER KGM. AND PEE SQUARE METER OF SURFACE 



(Gephart and DuBois) 



