14 



University of New Hampshire 



[Sta. Bull. 331 



over 9000 of whom attended a total of 244 public lectures which 

 briefly explained the subject. 



Practical Significance of Metabolism Studies 



Although clinical practice has given the term metabolism a famil- 

 iar ring-, its character and significance are not generally understood 

 as yet except that somehow it relates to energy and is expressed as 

 calories instead of B. T. U'S. Few for instance grasp the fact that 

 energy performs the same general use in the animal as in a mechan- 

 ical motor and that the mechanical motor is only a relatively crude 

 imitation of the animal motor. 



FIGURE 9. SUN GOD II, AN INTERNATIONAL TURF WINNER 

 He exemplifies speed and endurance, sudden application of great force, a large power plant, 

 basal metabolism of 12,000 calories. 



A brief practical explanation of the service of metabolism to the 

 animal body can best be given by analogy. The animal body, like an 

 internal combustion engine, is a transformer of energy from fuel 

 (i.e. food in one case, gasoline in the other) to active power, or mo- 

 tion and heat. The provision for performing this and the processes 

 are fundaTnentally similar; that is, the combustion chamber or me- 

 chanical cylinder is represented by the muscle cells, the carburetor 

 supplying the oxygen necessary for combustion is represented by the 

 lungs, the control of ignition rate is performed by the hormones se- 

 creted by the ductless glands, and the blood circulatory system serves 

 as the supply line that carries the fuel (digested food) to the combus- 

 tion chamber and removes the waste. (See Fig. 7). 



