37 
1921-22.] Physical Test Station, Edinburgh, Results. 
it is clear that the wider the range of normal load, i.e. the higher the crest - 
load, the higher must be the stamina of the subject. Hence the abscissal 
position of the crest-load becomes a measure of stamina. 
Inasmuch as the A curve of a young man in good health rises during 
physical training until it eventually coincides with the B curve up to 
the crest, the latter curve may be regarded as expressing the subject’s 
performance on air after he has been made quite fit ; thus it was prefer- 
able to state the stamina as a function of the position of the crest of the 
B curve. The measure of stamina adopted at the Test Station was to 
take a B crest-load of 10,000 ft. -lbs. per minute as indicating 100 per cent, 
stamina, a B crest-load of 5000 ft.-lbs. as 50 per cent, stamina, and so 
on. This method, though not free from objection, is simple and proved 
reliable. 
III. Apparatus and Routine. 
The Station was run by an officer and two N.C.Os. under the writer’s 
superintendence. In the research which preceded the establishment of 
the Station, apparatus of rather greater complexity had to be employed, 
since the aim then was to evaluate oxygen consumption during work as 
well as C 02 -output, and to study other questions such as the composition 
of alveolar air and the mechanical efficiency of the subject; but at the 
Station the apparatus was cut down to the minimum and the routine was 
simplified and standardised for the sake of speed. The whole equipment, 
with the exception of thirty lOO-ft. oxygen cylinders, is shown in fig. 9. 
The subject, it will be observed, was provided with mouthpiece and nose- 
clip ; he drew air or oxygen (as the case may be) through a dry meter and 
expired into a Douglas bag. The valves and connecting tubes were large, 
and their resistance was negligible even when the lung- ventilation was as 
high as 80 litres per minute. The meter, besides measuring the volume 
drawn in, served to indicate the rate of breathing; the officer in charge 
counted the movements of the pointer against a stop-watch. As the dial 
of the meter was not seen by the man, he was unaware that any notice 
was being taken of his breathing — a matter of importance with “ raw ” 
subjects. 
At the start, the empty Douglas bag was connected to the expiratory 
tube, A, the three-way tap being in the “ off” position, so that the products 
of expiration passed directly out into the air of the room. The subject, 
seated at rest on the saddle of the ergometer, breathed normal air. After 
he had become accustomed to his position, the three-way tap was turned 
“ on ” at the end of an expiration, and the breath passed into the bag. 
