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SEX. REST AND WORK. 925
That young individuals show a more active metabolism than adults,
follows, as above stated, principally from the relatively greater body
surface in the first as compared to the latter. According to Tigerstedt
and Sonden, the greater metabolism in young animals depends neverthe-
less, also in part, on the fact that in these individuals the decomposition
in itself is more active than in older ones. The period of growth has a
considerable influence on the extent of metabolism (in man), and indeed
the metabolism, even when calculated on the unit of surface of body, is
greater in youth than in old age. This view is strongly disputed by
Rubner. He does not deny that differences exist between young and
adult individuals which may be considered as a deviation from the above
rule; still these differences may, he claims, be dependent upon the work
performed, the food, and the nutritive condition. Magnus-Levy and
Falk l
have reported observations which support the conclusions of
Sonden and Tigerstedt.
Nurslings have a behavior different from older children, as with them
during the first months of life, and especially the first three days, the
metabolism, calculated on the unit of surface, is strikingly low, and
lower than with adults. After about two weeks it attains about the same
height as adults (Scherer, Forster 2
).
In old age the metabolism is very much reduced; and even when calcu-
lated upon the square meter of surface of body it is lower than in an
individual of medium age.
The question as to what extent sex specially influences metabolism
remains to be investigated. Tigerstedt and Sonden found that in the
young the carbon-dioxide elimination, per kilo of body weight, as well as
per square meter of body surface, was considerably greater in males
than in females of the same age and the same weight of body. This
difference between the sexes seems to disappear gradually, and at old
age it is entirely absent. The investigations of Magnus-Levy and
Falk oppose these observations. They investigated by means of the
Zuntz-Geppert method, not only children, but also adults and old
persons of both sexes, but could not observe any positive influence of
the sex upon metabolism.3
1
Tigerstedt and Sonden, Skand. Arch. f. Physiol. 6; Rubner, 1. c; and Arch. f.
Hygiene, 66; Magnus-Levy, Arch. f. (Anat. u.) Physiol., 1899, Suppl.
1
Cited by A. Loewy in Oppenheimer’s Handb., Bd. 4, 189.
* Tigerstedt and Sonden, Skand. Arch. f. Physiol., 6; Magnus-Levy and Falk,
Arch. f. (Anat. u.) Physiol., 1899, Suppl. In regard to metabolism and its relation
to the phases of sexual life and especially under the influence of menstruation and
pregnancy, see the investigations of A. Ver Eecke (Bull. acad. roy. de m£d. de Bel-
gique, 1897 and 1901, and Maly’s Jahresber., 30 and 31). See also Magnus-Levy
in- v. Noorden’s Handb. d. Pathol, d. Stoffwechsels.
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