RATE OF WATER AND HEAT LOSS FROM THE RESPIRATORY TRACT OF NORMAL SUBJECTS IN A SUBTROPICAL CLIMATE

Abstract

The rate of water loss and heat loss from the lungs of man has not received much attention during the past two decades. Most of the studies were conducted in the latter part of the last century and the early part of this one.¹ In studies of insensible perspiration, water loss from the lungs was measured indirectly by a large sensitive balance, a method originated by Sanctorius.² More recently Seeley³ and Christie and Loomis⁴ have studied the temperature of expired air and some aspects of expired water. Except for the early studies, there have been no detailed observations of late devoted to a quantitative measurement of expired water and to the study of factors influencing this loss. There are considerable discrepancies in the early papers. For example, Weyrich^1d stated that he had definitely shown that expired air is completely saturated with water vapor. Galeotti,^1g on the other hand, found