THE BASAL METABOLISM OF MAN

Respiration apparatus designed for the estimation of the output of carbon dioxid and the absorption of oxygen—the gaseous metabolism—has now become sufficiently common in physiologic laboratories and even in hospital wards to cease to arouse the surprise occasioned by any scientific device of exceptional novelty. Respiration calorimeters which permit the direct measurement of the heat output are still decidedly uncommon adjuncts to the scientific outfit of the clinic, owing in part to the expense of construction and operation, and in part also to the lack of trained workers who are capable of experimenting in this field of the study of animal heat. The determination of the heat production by so-called indirect calorimetry—by calculation from the data of the gaseous metabolism and certain other factors—is developing into such satisfactory form that the respiration apparatus alone promises to supply adequate information regarding the heat output and energy metabolism, and to render unnecessary