The chemical and energy transformations in the dog after the ingestion of different quantities of meat

Abstract

A dog weighing about 13.8 kilograms was given on different days, 700 grams of meat and 1,200 grams of meat at the noon hour. In the morning the metabolism was determined for an hour, while the dog slept quietly in the respiration calorimeter. The minimum or basal metabolism thus determined was found to be about 25 calories per hour. After the ingestion of meat at noon, the animal was again placed in the respiration calorimeter, and the hourly metabolism determined. The results are given in the following table. It will be noticed that the metabolism rises from 25 calories in starvation, to 34 calories after the ingestion of 700 grams of meat, and from 25 calories to 40 calories, after the ingestion of 1,200 grams of meat. In general, the figures agree with Rubner's conception, that about 30 per cent. of the total energy of metabolized protein is wasted as free heat, within the organism. One new point stands out prominently in the above table, and that is, that for the first time, the direct and the indirect calorimetry in hourly periods have been found approximately to agree.