METABOLISM IN FEVER AND CERTAIN INFECTIONS 107 



during the period in which the respiratory quotient is determined we can, 

 by the method of indirect calorimetry, estimate the grams of carbohydrate, 

 fat and protein consumed and the percentage of total calories furnished by 

 each. The following table gives some of the standard quotients : 



TABLE 2. STANDARD RESPIRATORY QUOTIENTS 



Respiratory 

 Quotient 



Carbohydrate '. . . . 1.00 



Fat " 71 



Protein 80 



Av. normal subject 14 hrs. after last meal 82 



Starvation 72 



Total diabetes .. .69 



Carb. being converted into fat 1.00 1.39 + 



"We have at our command a large amount of data regarding the re- 

 spiratory quotient in typhoid fever as determined by the investigators 

 already quoted in regard to the total metabolism. Their findings are 

 shown in Figures 6 and 7 and Table 3. 







TABLE 3. RESPIRATORY QUOTIENTS IN TYPHOID FEVER 



Inspection of Figures 6 and 7 shows a few quotients slightly below 

 the starvation level of .72, but these were all obtained with apparatus to 

 which the patients were connected by means of mouth or nose pieces. 

 With this technique errors of a few points are not infrequent. No 

 quotients below .72 were found in the calorimeter and only one by 

 Grafe, who used a respiration chamber. During the fever most of the 

 quotients were between the level found in normal subjects and in starving 

 men. The patients on a high calory diet studied shortly after their mid- 

 day meals gave results almost as high as we should expect in normal 

 subjects. 



In convalescence we are at once struck by the number of abnormally 

 high quotients, indicating that the subjects were deriving a large pro- 

 portion of their calories from carbohydrates and in many instances were 



