NORMAL PROCESSES OF ENERGY METABOLISM 637 



1.83 calories. On the basis of the Meeh formula the basal metabolism of 

 the boys per square meter of surface is 23.5 calories and that of the girls 

 23.2. On the basis of the DuBois formula the metabolism is 30.5 and 31.0 

 calories per square meter per hour respectively. The mean deviation from 

 the average is again less for the Meeh formula. 



In the statistical analysis of the basal metabolism of the entire Bos- 

 ton series, Harris and Benedict carried the comparison somewhat further. 

 They predicted the metabolism of girl infants from constants based on 

 the boys, and determined the sign and magnitude of the difference be- 

 tween observed and calculated values. Equations employed were those show- 

 ing regression of basal metabolism on stature (body length), on weight, 

 and on body surface in the male infants. Subdividing the entire seriea 

 of female infants into stature groups, it was found that out of six groups 

 three showed a higher metabolism and three a lower metabolism than 

 that predicted on the assumption that all were boys of like height. Clas- 

 sifying for surface area, out of seven groups four showed a higher metab- 

 olism and three a lower than predicted on the assumption that they were 

 boys with the surface area of the girls. The comparison for body weight 

 turned out the same. The authors conclude: "As far as our data go, they 

 indicate that on the average there is no sensible difference between the 

 heat production of the two sexes in the first week of life." 



5. Influence of Crying. Since the newborn child is scarcely able to 

 influence metabolism by any other form of muscular effort than crying, 

 the activity factor may be discussed under this heading. Bailey and Mur- 

 lin cited among their results the case of a child ten days of age who pro- 

 duced 8.14 calories per hour while sleeping quietly throughout the period 

 of observation. The next day, while crying "most of the time," i. e., one 

 hour, she produced 10.73 calories, an increase of 31 per cent. Howland 

 with Lusk's calorimeter observed an increase of 39 per cent in an infant 

 7 months of age for a one-hour period of "struggling and crying." Bene- 

 dict and Talbot have contrasted in one of their tables minimal with maxi- 

 mal periods of activity (including crying) for 93 infants, and deduce an 

 average difference of 65 per cent, the individual differences ranging from 

 4 to 211 per cent ! Unfortunately 65 out of the 93 maximal periods are 

 "calculated from the carbon dioxid produced during a preliminary period 

 for which the respiratory quotient was not determined." Since even those 

 periods for which oxygen as well as carbon dioxid was determined often- 

 times gave "defective respiratory quotients due to excessive carbon dioxid 

 excretion . . . or to a defect in the measurement of the oxygen, particu- 

 larly the residual oxygen," it is impossible to compare Benedict and Tal- 

 bot's results with those of Howland or Bailey and Murlin whose "crying" 

 periods like their basal periods, were controlled by residual analyses. 

 From a practical point of view, however, namely the effect of crying upon 

 the energy requirement of the newborn, the several authors are in sub- 



