THE THYEOID 39 



difficulty connected with measuring such an area. 

 Mathematicians have not been wanting to devise 

 a formula which connects weight with surface area. 

 All you have to do is to weigh your man and then 

 multiply the cube root of the body weight squared 

 by 12.3, and you have your surface area ! Du Bois, 

 however, working at the Kussell Sage Institute of 

 Pathology, connected with the Bellevue Hospital, 

 New York, has shown a method by which the sur- 

 face area can actually be measured. "He covered 

 the body surface with light-fitting underwear, ap- 

 plied melted paraffin, and then paper strips to 

 prevent change in area when the covering was re- 

 moved. This model of the surface when cut into 

 flat pieces was photographed upon paper in which 

 equal areas were of equal weight. From the weight 

 of paper which received the photographic impres- 

 sion the area of body surface could be calculated." * 

 So accurate is this method, that a ball having an 

 area of 0.1490 square meter, when measured in 

 this way, gave the figure 0.1488. Du Bois also 

 showed that the calculation of surface area by the 

 formula method involved an average inaccuracy 

 of 16 per cent. 



Basal Metabolism. Using the Du Bois method, 

 the heat production per square meter of surface is 

 39.7 calories per hour, provided the individual is 

 resting and is "normal," and provided the experi- 



a Lusk, The Science of Nutrition, p. 214. 



