Respiration Calorimeters for Studying the Respiratory Exchange and Energy Transformations of Man

by Francis Gano Benedict; Thorne M. Carpenter

The apparatus rests on four heavy iron legs. Two pieces of channel iron are attached to these legs and the structural framework of the calorimeter chamber rests upon these irons. The method of separating the asbestos outer panels is shown in the diagram. In order to provide light for the chamber, the outer wall in front of the glass windows is made of glass rather than asbestos. The front section of the outer casing can be removed easily for the introduction of a patient.

In this chamber it is impossible to weigh the bed and clothing, and hence this calorimeter can not be used for the accurate determination of the moisture vaporized from the lungs and skin of the subject, since here (as in almost every form of respiration chamber) it is absolutely impossible to distinguish between the amount of water vaporized from bed-clothing and that vaporized from the lungs and skin of the subject. With the chair calorimeter, the weighing arrangements make it possible to weigh the chair, clothing, etc., and thus apportion the total water vaporized between losses from the chair, furniture, and body of the man. In view of the fact that the water vaporized from the skin and lungs could not be determined, the whole interior of the chamber of the bed calorimeter has been coated with a white enamel paint, which gives it a bright appearance and makes it much more attractive to new patients. An incandescent light placed above the head at the front illuminates the chamber very well, and as a matter of fact the food-aperture is so placed that one can lie on the cot and actually look outdoors through one of the laboratory windows.

Fig. 26.—Cross-section of bed calorimeter, showing part of steel construction, also copper and zinc walls, food-aperture, and wall and air-resistance thermometers. Cross-section of opening, cross-section of panels of insulating asbestos, and supports of calorimeter itself are also indicated.

Special precaution was taken with this calorimeter to make it as comfortable and as attractive as possible to new and possibly apprehensive patients. The painting of the walls unquestionably results in a condensation of more or less moisture, for the paint certainly absorbs more moisture than does the metallic surface of the copper. The chief value of the determination of the water vaporized inside of the chamber during an experiment lies, however, not in a study of the vaporization of water as such, but in the fact that a certain amount of heat is required to vaporize the water and obviously an accurate measure of the heat production must involve a measure of the amount of water vaporized. So far as the measurement of heat is concerned, it is immaterial whether the water is vaporized from the lungs or skin of the subject or the clothing, bedding, or walls of the chamber; since for every gram of water vaporized inside of the chamber, from whatever source, 0.586 calorie of heat must have been absorbed.

The apparatus as perfected is very sensitive. The sojourn in the chamber is not uncomfortable; as a matter of fact, in an experiment made during January, 1909, the subject remained inside of the chamber for 30 hours. With male patients no difficulty is experienced in collecting the urine. No provision is made for defecation, and hence it is our custom in long experiments to empty the lower bowel with an enema and thus defer as long as possible the necessity for defecation. With none of the experiments thus far made have we experienced any difficulty in having to remove the patient because of necessity to defecate in the cramped quarters. It is highly probable that, with the majority of sick patients, experiments will not extend for more than 8 or 10 hours, and consequently the apparatus as designed should furnish most satisfactory results.

In testing the apparatus by the electrical-check method, it has been found to be extremely accurate. When the test has been made with burning alcohol, as described beyond, it has been found that the large amount of moisture apparently retained by the white enamel paint on the walls vitiates the determination of water for several hours after the experiment begins, and only after several hours of continuous ventilating is the moisture content of the air brought down to a low enough point to establish equilibrium between the moisture condensed on the surface and the moisture in the air and thus have the measured amount of moisture in the sulphuric acid vessels equal the amount of moisture formed by the burning of alcohol. Hence in practically all of the alcohol-check experiments, especially of short duration, with this calorimeter, the values for water are invariably somewhat too high. A comparison of the alcohol-check experiments made with the bed and chair calorimeters gives an interesting light upon the power of paint to absorb moisture and emphasizes again the necessity of avoiding the use of material of a hygroscopic nature in the interior of an apparatus in which accurate moisture determinations from the body are to be made.

The details of the bed calorimeter are better shown in fig. 4. The opening at the front is here removed and the wooden track upon which the frame, supporting the cot, slides is clearly shown. The tension equalizer (see page 71) partly distended is shown connected to the ingoing air-pipe, and on the top of the calorimeter connected to the tension equalizer is a Sondén manometer. On the floor at the right is seen the resistance coil used for electrical tests (see page 50). A number of connections inside the chamber at the left are made with electric wires or with rubber tubing. Of the five connections appearing through the opening, reading from left to right, we have, first, the rubber connection with the pneumograph, then the tubing for connection with the stethoscope, then the electric-resistance thermometer, the telephone, and finally a push button for bell call. The connections for the pneumograph and stethoscope are made with the instruments outside on the table at the left of the bed calorimeter.

MEASUREMENTS OF BODY-TEMPERATURE.

While it is possible to control arbitrarily the temperature of the calorimeter by increasing or decreasing the amount of heat brought away, and thus compensate exactly for the heat eliminated by the subject, the hydrothermal equivalent of the system itself being about 20 calories—on the other hand the body of the subject may undergo marked changes in temperature and thus influence the measurement of the heat production to a noticeable degree; for if heat is lost from the body by a fall of body-temperature or stored as indicated by a rise in temperature, obviously the heat produced during the given period will not equal that eliminated and measured by the water-current and by the latent heat of water vaporized. In order to make accurate measurements, therefore, of the heat-production as distinguished from the heat elimination, we should know with great accuracy the hydrothermal equivalent of the body and changes in body temperature. The most satisfactory method at present known of determining the hydrothermal equivalent of the body is to assume the specific heat of the body as 0.83.[14] This factor will of course vary considerably with the weight of body material and the proportion of fat, water, and muscular tissue present therein, but for general purposes nothing better can at present be employed. From the weight of the subject and this factor the hydrothermal equivalent of the body can be calculated. It remains to determine, then, with great exactness the body temperature.