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922 METABOLISM.
calories), then the question arises whether it acts sparingly on other
bodies, and whether it is to be considered as a nutritive substance. The
earlier investigations made to decide these questions have led to no
decisive result. The thorough investigations of Atwater and Benedict,
Zuntz and Geppert, Bjerre, Clopatt, Neumann, Offer, Rosemann,1
and others, seem to show positively that, in man, alcohol can diminish the
consumption not only of fat and carbohydrates, but also the proteins,
although at first, due to its poisonous properties, it may increase the pro-
tein metabolism for a short time. The nutritive value of alcohol can
be of special importance in certain cases only, as large amounts of alcohol
taken at one time, or the continued use of smaller quantities, has an injur-
ious action on the organism. Alcohol may therefore be regarded as a
foodstuff only in exceptional cases, and in other respects must be con-
sidered as an article of luxury.
Coffee and tea have no action on the exchange of material which can
be positively proven, and their importance lies chiefly in their action
upon the nervous system. It is impossible to enter into the effect of
various therapeutic agents upon metabolism.
IV. THE DEPENDENCE OF METABOLISM ON OTHER CONDITIONS.
The so-called basal requirement which was previously mentioned,
i.e., the extent of metabolism with absolute rest of body and inactivity
of the intestinal tract, serves best as a starting-point for the study of
metabolism under various external circumstances. The metabolism
going on under these conditions leads in the first place to the production
of heat, and it is only to a subordinate degree dependent upon the work
of the circulatory and respiratory apparatus and the activity of the glands.
According to a calculation by Zuntz,2
only 10-20 per cent of the total
calories of the basal requirement belongs to the circulation and respira-
tion work.
The magnitude of the basal requirement depends in the first place
upon the heat production necessary to cover the loss of heat, and this
heat production is in turn dependent upon the relation between the weight
and the surface of the body.
Weight of Body and Age. The greater the mass of the body the greater
the absolute consumption of material; while, on the contrary, other
1
In regard to the literature on this subject, see the works of O. Neumann, Arch,
f. Hygiene, 36 and 41, and Rosemann, Pfliiger’s Arch., 86 and 94. A summary of
the entire literature upon alcohol can be found in Abderhalden, " Bibliographie der
gesamten wissenschaftlichen Literatur iiber den Alcohol und den Alcoholismus,"
Berlin and Wien, 1904. See also Rosemann in Oppenheimer’s Handb. d. Bioch., Bd.
4,1.
2
Cited from v. Xoorden’s Handbuch, 1. Aufl., page 97.
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