Recent work on the basal metabolism of infants and adults has revived interest in Rubner's law that heat production in different individuals and species of animals is proportional to the surface area. This law was first definitely formulated by Rubner 1 in 1883, although suggested by Bergman 2 many years before. At the time the experimental work in support of this theory was done no record was kept of body movements and men and animals were allowed to move during the periods of investigation. The average heat production per square meter of body surface was about 1,000 calories per day. In modern work, where the influence of muscular activity is absolutely excluded, the figure is in the neighborhood of 830 calories per square meter per day, as has been shown in Paper 4 of this series. With these new figures it is not unnatural that many
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