50 



Scientific Proceedings (71). 



their hearts are functionally tested. These people are able to 

 flex or extend heavy dumb-bells until their arm muscles are 

 exhausted and yet the heart muscle will show no exhaustion. 

 That is, no delayed rise in the systolic blood-pressure is obtained. 

 Here it is necessary to use more powerful muscles, capable of 

 doing much greater amounts of work, in order to tire the heart. 

 We employ in these people the 25-pound steel bar which is lifted 

 from the floor to the shoulder, and above the head until the arms 

 are fully extended. Then it is lowered quickly to the floor and 

 raised again above the head. An adult will raise the bar between 

 6-7 feet, performing thus between 150 and 175 foot-pounds with 

 each raising. In addition to the work arising from the bar 

 movement, the raising of the trunk of the body each time from a 

 stooping to an erect position is equivalent to a certain number of 

 foot-pounds. The exact number is very difficult to estimate, but 

 from some comparative experiments we are now carrying out it 

 apparently lies between 40 and 50 per cent, of the body weight. 

 That is, a man who weighs 150 pounds does between 60 and 75 

 foot-pounds of work each time that he raises his body from a 

 stooping to an erect position. 



The testing of these hearts is necessarily at the present time a 

 comparative matter, and we are unable to obtain absolute values, 

 unless we have a bicycle ergometer at our disposal. 



We are much indebted to Dr. Horatio B. Williams, of the 

 department of physiology of Columbia University, for his assis- 

 tance in supervising the experiments conducted with the bicycle 

 ergometer and for many valuable suggestions made during the 

 course of the work outlined above. 



30 (1094) 



The influence of infantile scurvy on growth (length and weight). 

 By Alfred F. Hess, M.D. 



[From the Board of Health Laboratories, New York City.] 



Infants fed on milk that has been pasteurized (heated to 145 0 

 F. for 30 minutes) develop scurvy, provided fruit juices or other 

 anti-scorbutic food is not added to their diet. This scurvy is of a 



