The basal metabolism of a growing pig

Abstract

The experiments to be described in this paper are a continuation of the comprehensive investigation of the course of metabolism in swine foreshadowed by Dr. J. W. Capstick and Prof. T. B. Wood in their paper read before the Royal Society last year (1). The instrument employed has been the same, erected by Dr. Capstick (2), which was used by the authors mentioned. It has been improved since the appearance of the memoir cited, by the addition of resistance thermometers in the exit ventilating tube, which are used for obtaining a continuous record of the temperature of the outlet air on a thread recorder similar in every way to the one employed for plotting the difference in temperature between the inlet and exit water of the circulatory system; and of an arrangement, operated photographically, whereby the height of the water surface in the manometer tubes is traced continuously on to a strip of sensitised paper fixed to the surface of a revolving drum. These recording arrangements are not usually used in lieu of personal observations, which are still continued by night as well as by day while an animal is in the calorimeter. The only occasions when a continuous automatic record has been used for computation has been when the restlessness of the animal rendered personal readings impossible. This method was not used for any of the experiments described in this paper, the only use made herein of the recorders has been for the recovery of a few lost readings, as if the pig is disturbed by the observer entering the room the outlet thermometers immediately rise before readings can be taken.