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.
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