94 
MUSCULAR WORK 
quotient was relatively high. As would be expected, these high quotients 
were not materially altered by the severe muscular work, but the character- 
istic fall a after the severe muscular work is observed on the resumption of the 
light work of 0.56 calorie per minute. The experiment of March 4 and, 
to a slight extent, the experiment of February 28, substantiate the conclu- 
sions drawn from the values shown in table 98, namely, that after severe 
muscular work the same tendency for the respiratory quotient to drop is 
shown with the resumption of slight muscular activity as in a period of rest, 
and that in all probability the average degree of work here performed, namely, 
0.50 calorie per minute, was so light that the specific katabolism incidental 
to severe muscular work was not called into play and the body was essentially 
in a condition of repose. 
Table 99. — Respiratory quotients without food during work with severe work preceded and 
followed by light work. (Subject M. A. M.) 
Date and 
condition. 
External 
muscular work. 
Respira- 
tory 
quotient. 
Date and 
condition. 
External 
muscular work 
Respira- 
tory 
quotient. 
Accumu- 
lated amt. 
to end of 
period. 
Amt. per 
minute 
during 
period. 
Accumu- 
lated amt. 
to end of 
period. 
Amt. per 
minute 
during 
period. 
Feb. 28, 1912. 
Light work 
Severe work 
Light work 
cals. 
24 
36 
54 
114 
153 
190 
202 
216 
cals. 
0.55 
.55 
.55 
2.18 
2.04 
2.07 
.55 
.55 
0.82 
.83 
.80 
.97 
.97 
1.03 
.93 
.94 
Mar. 4, 1912. 
Light work 
Severe work 
Light work 
cals. 
24 
39 
113 
153 
191 
207 
218 
229 
cals. 
0.55 
.55 
2.15 
2.16 
2.12 
.56 
.55 
.54 
0.95 
.87 
.93 
.98 
.92 
.87 
.86 
.89 
Conclusions Regarding the Influence of Muscular Work upon the Character 
of the Katabolism. 
Although the evidence in all of the experiments cited is strikingly in 
favor of the view that during periods of muscular work there is an increased 
draft upon carbohydrate material in the body, the data by no means indicate 
that the muscular work is performed exclusively by the combustion of car- 
bohydrate. In Chauveau's experiments the total metabolism during work 
was but four times that of rest, but in the majority of our experiments the 
total metabolism during work was from eight to ten times that of rest; hence, 
employing the formula used by Chauveau, we would expect with a normal post- 
absorptive metabolism during rest, in which there was a respiratory quotient 
of 0.84, that the corresponding respiratory quotient during work would be 
0.98, the computation being: 
0.84 x 1 + 1 X 8 8.84 
9 
9 
= 0.98 
As a matter of fact, in our results we rarely find quotients of unity or 
above. It is furthermore apparent from an inspection of our tables, particu- 
larly table 94, that the height of the respiratory quotient during work is 
usually dependent upon the supply of glycogen in the body, this being indi- 
ti Jaquet (Archiv f. exp. Pathol, u. Pharm., 1910, 62, p. 341) found similar low quotients after severe muscu- 
lar work. 
