From the earliest attempts to adjust food intake to the energy requirement it has been recognized that the dietetic needs of men as a class are somewhat greater than those of women. This increase has been commonly ascribed in large part to the variations in the muscular activity and yet there has been a definite belief that the basal energy requirement for women may be materially different from that for men. In connection with obs6rvations made on a large number of normal men and women, primarily for the purpose of comparing them with pathological subjects, we have accumulated the results of observations on 89 men and 68 women, all of whom were in 'presumably good health.' The experiments were made with essentially the same technique and with the subject in the same condition of muscular repose and the post-absorptive state, i.e., 12 hours after the last meal. Under these conditions, differences due to muscular activity are entirely eliminated and we obtain the basal normal caloric output of the individuals studied.The total heat production, computed on the 24-hour basis, was greater with the men, i.e., 1638 calories as against 1355 calories with the women. Of special interest is the fact that the oxygen consumption per kilogram per minute-a unit of measurement commonly employed by physiologists-was remarkably uniform with both sexes, being 3.65 cc. with the men and 3.58 cc. with the women. On the basis of heat-production per 24 hours, the men showed 25.5 calories per kilogram of body weight and the women 24.9 calories. On the debatable unit of apportionment of heat-production per square meter of body surface the men had 832 calories per 24 hours against 772 calories for the women.It should be borne in mind, however, that the 89 men had an average body-weight, without clothing, of 64.3 kg. and the 68 women a body-weight of but 54.5 kg.; furthermore, the average height of the men was 172 cm. and that of the women 162 cm. A direct, unqualified comparison of the total metabolism of these two classes, or of the metabolism per kilogram of body weight or per square meter of body surface is, therefore, not permissible for it is not logical to compare two groups of individuals with unlike weight and height. 104

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