652 



JOHN R. MURLIN 



Cals. TOTAL CALORIES REFERRED TO SURFACE. GIRLS. 



general character are obtained when the total basal heat production cal- 

 culated to 24 hours is referred to the body surface (Figs. 41 and 42). 

 The surface area in these observations was calculated from numerous ac- 

 tual measurements according to DuBois linear formula, and a revision 

 of the formula of Lissauer is proposed by derivation of the con- 

 stant, with which the two-thirds power of the weight should be 

 affected, from the surface as measured. The authors find a slightly closer 



agreement upon this basis 

 than upon the basis of 

 weight, but persist in their 

 belief that there is no causal 

 relationship between body 

 surface and heat production. 

 This topic has been suffi- 

 ciently discussed at p. 598 

 and it may only be reiterated 

 here, that the vastly better 

 agreement between basal heat 

 production and body surface 

 than between this physio- 

 logical character and body 

 weight, as between individ- 

 uals of the same species but 

 of widely different size, re- 

 mains as a challenge to dis- 

 believers. The factor of age 

 must be taken into account 

 as now is definitely estab- 

 lished by the work of the 

 several authors described 

 above. 



Benedict and Talbot(c) 

 find wide variations from their mean curves from 20 to 64 calories per 

 kilogram and 24 hours for boys and an even wider range for girls ; from 

 650 to 1275 calories per square meter (DuBois linear formula and 

 Lissauer formula modified) per 24 hours for boys, and from 600 to 1350 

 for girls. The widest variation on both bases for any single age falls in 

 the latter half of the first year, being over 60 per cent for boys and over 

 65 per cent for girls on the basis of weight ; and in the neighborhood of 

 50 per cent for both sexes on the basis of surface. The variability upon, 

 the basis of surface is noticeably less than upon the basis of weight for 

 other ages also. 



2. Influence of Sex on Basal Metabolism. Signs of sex difference in 

 metabolism appear in the very early work of Andral and Gavarret and 



Fig. 42. Basal heat production of girls 

 from birth to puberty, total calories per 24 

 hours referred to surface area (Benedict and 

 Talbot). 



