All of the pulse data given in the previous section, save those taken by Professor Johnson and certain of the electrocardiograms, were obtained with the subject in the lying position in the post-absorptive condition and without previous activity. Beginning with December 8, another series of observations was made in connection with the psychological program at the Laboratory. The series consisted of six records which were taken by wrist counts. No. 1 was taken immediately after the adding test, No. 2 immediately after the pitch discrimination, and No. 3 after the clerical test. These the subjects themselves counted. Nos. 4, 5, and 6 were counted by the experimenter, No. 4 after the finger movements, No. 5 after the patellar reflex. No. 6 was taken the following morning, after the finger-movement test; thus, while the values for this last count are entered under a given date, they actually belong to the following day. The data for the six observations are given in table 86 for Squad A and in table 87 for Squad B.

Tabus 86. - Pulse Data Taken In Connection With Psychological Sessions - Squad A, Subjects Sitting

1 Taken on morning following date given.

2 Electrocardiograms taken; no wrist counts made.

3 Walking experiment in place of psychological measurements.

Table 87. - Pulse Data Taken In Connection With Psychological Sessions - Squad B, Subjects Sitting

1 Taken on morning following date given.

2 Walking experiment in place of psychological measurements.

On the morning of December 20 arrangements were made for taking electrocardiograms of the men; hence the morning pulse-rate (No. 6 for December 19) was omitted. On the morning of February 3 with Squad A and of January 6 and 28 with Squad B the walking experiments on the treadmill were made; hence no pulse counts appear in the tables for No. 6 on February 2 and January 5 and 27. On all other days, six records were made. Although the pulse-rate for the sitting position would be expected to be somewhat higher than that for the lying position, we have adhered to the procedure followed in table 80 of italicizing all pulse values between 40 and 36, inclusive, and giving in bold-face type the occasional records which are 35 or below. In interpreting the results of these pulse records in table 86 it should be borne in mind that all values were taken subsequent to the ingestion of food. As may be seen from the program for the day (see p. 59), the first count was approximately an hour after the standard restaurant supper eaten by the men on their visit to Boston. Counts Nos. 1 and 2 were made simultaneously by the entire squad. Counts Nos. 3, 4, 5, and 6 varied somewhat in time, as they were recorded jta the intermission of the individual psychological tests which were given to the men in order during the evening and again on the following morning. Even with this variation in time, none of the subjects were in the post-absorptive condition and the influence of food ingestion as well as that of the sitting position must be recognized in comparing these pulse values with other series.

Noting first the course of the pulse values obtained by the subjects themselves in the first three counts of each evening, we find that the first count for Squad A (that for December 8) was made when the subjects had been for several weeks on reduced diet. On February 2 the pulse-rate was in most instances somewhat higher than on the other days, and the men were evidently more or less stimulated by the fact that this was the last session.

The pulse-rates on December 19 and January 12 and 26 were reasonably uniform, although the values for January 12 have a tendency to be higher than on either of the other days. No basal pulse counts were obtained under these conditions, either prior to the low diet or after normal diet was resumed. Values between 40 and 36 occur with 6 subjects and values of 35 or below with 3 subjects. The absolute minimum was observed with Vea, in count No. 5 on the evening of January 26, with a low value of 33. In general the pulse had a tendency to fall off as the evening progressed, tho highest value appearing in count No. 1 and the lowest usually in count No. 5. The count taken the following morning usually shows values higher than the last count in the preceding evening. Only 2 pulse-rates of 40 appear in the No. 6 values. The difference between Nos. 5 and 6, or the last record of the evening and the first record of the morning, is, in the case of Bro, very slight. With the other subjects it is pronounced, showing on the whole a real difference in metabolic level. This may in part be ascribed to the fact that the pulse records in the morning were usually taken not long after breakfast and following the incidental activity of rising, leaving the respiration chamber, walking up a flight of stairs, dressing, eating breakfast, and going downstairs to the psychological laboratory, an activity which was as a rule considerably more marked than that preceding the counts on the evening before.

With Squad B we have certain values for comparison which may be taken as normal, i.e., those for December 15 and January 5. In table 87 we have again adopted the arbitrary procedure of italicizing all values of 40 and below. The lowest absolute value found in any instance is 37 with Liv on the evening of January 27. Most of the italicized figures fall in count No. 5, a condition likewise observed in the case of Squad A.

In general, the normal values found on January 5 or prior thereto are not greatly altered on January 13 (the first session with reduced diet); the only striking exceptions to this uniformity are with How and Sch. It would thus appear that one week of reduced diet was not sufficient to affect greatly the pulse values for this squad when taken with the men in the sitting position and undergoing the moderate intellectual and physical activity of the psychological tests. On the other hand, an examination of all the data for January 19 and 27 shows almost invariably marked decreases in pulse-rate for all the counts. Thus we have a clear picture during the last two sessions of a decided influence of the reduced diet upon the sitting pulse taken under conditions of the psychological session at the Nutrition Laboratory.

Although as a rule the values in column 6 are greater than those in column 5, too many irregularities exist to permit of any definite deduction being drawn. The pronounced influence of the reduced diet shown in table 87, especially after the first week, is in complete harmony with the effect noted in tables 80 to 82 upon the resting pulse-rate taken with the men in both squads in the lying position. These sitting pulse-rates, which were influenced more or less by minor activity and particularly by food in the stomach, have by no means the significance of the basal morning pulse, but they serve to show that not only is the quiescent resting pulse profoundly affected by the dietetic regime, but that the sitting pulse following digestion is likewise affected. The fact that with Squad B this influence is hardly appreciable at the end of the first week of dieting is of significance when it is considered that these men were upon a diet representing approximately but one-third of their previous maintenance requirements. Pulse data of this character are especially helpful in suggesting the probability that the total heart action and metabolism are profoundly depressed by the low diet, not only during periods of complete muscular repose, but likewise under conditions of moderate intellectual and physical activity, complicated in part by digestive processes, although, owing to the extraordinarily reduced diet, it is hardly to be presumed that the influence of the ingestion of food is at all comparable to that existing under normal conditions.