BASAL METABOLISM AND IDEAL WEIGHT AND PULSE RATIOS: AS SHOWN BY THE FINDINGS IN MORE THAN TWENTY-FIVE HUNDRED OBSERVATIONS ON ABOUT TWELVE HUNDRED SUBJECTS: A PRELIMINARY REPORT

It occurs to us that the findings in a large series of basal metabolism observations—more than 2,500 on about 1,200 subjects—should have the wide circulation which onlyThe Journalcan give. These reports will be published in detail in special journals shortly, but we wish to make a preliminary report on the research because of the renewed interest in the activity of the thyroid gland as part of the general interest in the internal secretions; and because many ideas are current in regard to the overaction or underaction of the thyroid, which do not seem justified, or at least are controverted, by these findings. As a result, subjects are assumed to be hyperactive and treated as such on bare symptomatology such as irritable heart and loss of weight or after unreliable tests; while, on the other hand, many are fed thyroid on the assumption that increased weight or other symptoms