ABSTRACT OF PROCEEDINGS. XVil. 
Mr. W. M. HAMLET, F.I.C., F.C.S., delivered a lecturette 
illustrated by lantern slides, when the new electric projec- 
tion lantern kindly provided by Dr. QUAIFE was used with 
excellent results. Mr. Hamuet took for his subject ‘‘The 
measurement of human energy,’’ which he defined as the 
sum of the activities of a comparatively few chemical 
elements, such as nitrogen, carbon, hydrogen, phosphorus, 
calcium, sodium, and iron; these with a few others entered 
into a host of permutations that ran the whole gamut of 
the melody of life. Attempts had from time to time been 
made to estimate the energy of which the human body was 
capable, and to present its equivalent value in foot-pounds 
and kilogram-meters the method being essentially a thermo- 
dynamic one. Success had followed the attempt, and 
advances had been made in the study of mental and physical 
energy. To come to any true conception as to its value, 
we must,as Lord Kelvin had pointed out, make careful 
weighings and measurements; indeed, we know little or 
nothing about a phenomenon until we were able to measure 
it. Between the estimation of any coefficient representing 
mental energy, and the more accessible measurement of 
physical energy, a barrier exists, which prevents us from 
even approximating the dynamic values of the intra-cellular 
energy of the nervous system. ‘The work done in walking 
a given distance on a level road afforded an easy means of 
estimating work done, and the lecturer gave examples in 
his own case of energy amounting to between four and five 
hundred foot-tons per day. Compared with a sedentary 
life demanding but 1,200 calories per diem, the former 
required two anda half times the food intake, namely, a 
fuel value 0f 3,000 K. The nitrogen metabolism was taken 
into account and it was found that the old standard of 100 
grams of proteid was excessive, and that better work and 
less fatigue, was felt when the intake of food was regulated 
in the way suggested by Chittenden. A description was 
b—July 4, 1906. 
