HUMAN TESTING MACHINE.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXXV, Issue 1066, 20 February 1913, Page 4

HUMAN TESTING MACHINE.

THIRTEEN DAYS IN A CABINET. In a specially constructed chamber in the Carnegie Laboratory of the University and Bellevue Hospital Medical College, New York City, a medical student lived for thirteen days a more secluded, and yet more observed life, than any prisoner in a punishment cell. His only communication with the outside world was by telephone ; bis food came to him through a series of "locks,” and even his emotions were revealed to those who watched him uight and day. This student was the subject of experiments to determine the healing properties of various foods, which are being made in connection with an attempt to solve the problem of the high cost of living. The chamber in which he lived is known as a "respiration calorimeter.” It measures ten feet by six, and its furni.tnre consists of a folding bed, washing apparatus, a chair, a table and a stationary bicycle for exercise. It is practically insulated from the outside world by "dead air” space between inside and outside walls. There is an observation windpw gt which doctors watched continuously, and a thermometer, with electric connection to the inside of the chamber, showed them how the occupant was 'affected by every moment of exercise and every morsel of food. His only recreations were reading and writing and talking to his friends on the telephone, but his reading was censored, lest it excited him, and no funny stories were allowed on the telephone, jn easg the listener’s

temperature was raised by laughing too heartily. When the voluntary prisoner rose in the morning he had to dress without hurrying, and even in walking about the chamber he had to take short steps. His breakfast, carefully arranged and weighed, came through the airlocks in sterilised vessels, and, as be ate it slowly, the thermometer showed the doctors the amount of heat it was generating.

After a test for digestion, the inmate received a telephone message to take exercise on the bicycle, and while he was pedalling steadily the tell-tale thermometer showed how much caloric energy he was expending. There were, of course, air inlets and outlets, and by means of electric and other delicate devices the doctors were able not only to measure the quantity of air introduced into the chamber through the period of exercise, but also to analyse the air so that they knew exactly its degree of purity.

As this same air emerged from the chamber the observers caught and measured the carbon dioxide exhaled by the inmate, took accurate note of the water vapour he threw off in perspiration during his exercise ; and they could tell to the smallest atom the quantity of oxygen burned by the man.

The inmate's food was varied as much as possible, as the doctors found that different diets had a marked effect on the amount of heat generated. He reported by the telephone that his appetite was good, and that he was feeling in first-class condition.

The caliorimeter, in which the student lived for thirteen days, is said to be the most perfect apparatus of its kind ever constructed. Hitherto the largest calorimeter chamber known has only been large enough to accommodate dogs, and observations have been limited to a few hours. The doctors in charge of the experiments tried four students before the present subject, whom they regarded as ideal for their purpose, entered on his term of voluntary incarceration.