The Portland daily press., 1899-07-01
MAN AS MACHINE.
The Scientific Aspect Of Human
Energy.
Professor Atwater's alive BOX" for
Registering a Mans work.

sidered purely and simply as o machine
Tor work, is the latest study Of Professors
Atwater and Rosa, a. Wesleyan Uniyer-
sity. Consuming food as fuel. just as a
steam engine utilizes coal, the human
body develops certain amount of ener-
gy, and it has long been desired to know
whether the result correspondent closely
to the output of 81 ordinary piece Of
mechanism built of metal. In other
words, 90 far as the physical part of him
IL concerned, Is man merely a piece Of
rather complicated machinery, stocked at
meal times and giving In return an
amount of power to be reckoned on ordi-
naryimechanicai prinoipless
This problem has been attacked by Pro-
fessore Atwater and Rosa with the help of
an improved apparatus. which WAS de-
veloped from the old 'live box" where
In u man was kept for week or SO at a
time, while fed on stated quantities of
carefully prepared foods, everything that
went into or came out of the apparatus
being weighed and analysed. Such great
improvements have been made on this
contrivance that the person inside OF 1t
cannot get up from his chair or turn In
bed without causing an automatic point
er to rise upon a graduated scale outside.
In other words, the energy developed by
the body In so slight a movement Is re-
corded. and from this suggestion one may
judge of the extraordinary sensitiveness
Of the device as applied for purposes Of
observation.
The idea. that the body of any human
being may be regarded as a machine is
old enough. Doubtless. the ancients
realiznd that this was d fact. But 1t has
remained for Professors Atwater and
Rosa 20 prove that the physical structure
of human being is so absolutely n piece
OF mechanism that the laws governing 1t
are practically the same as those which
govern the printing-press and the weav-
ing-loom. In the new-style "live boz"
n man rides a stationary bicycle for eight
hours day during eight successive days,
and every foot-pound OF work that he
puts into the performances lie duly re.
corded. A foot-pound Is the amount of
energy needed to lift one pound one foot
In one minute, and the driving OF the
bicycle represents the consumption Of
just so much food digested by the rider.
There could be no more beautiful Illus
tration of the likeness of man to a ma
chine, though here is a combination OF
both.
The new-fashioned olive box" Is a lit
tie room feet long, ~ feat wide and 9
fest high, provided with oonveniences for
sitting, sleeping, eating and working.
II consists. In fact, of three boxes, one in
side OF another, the inner one of metal
and two outer ones of wood, forming a
chamber non-permeable by heat from
within or without. Thus any rise Of tenn
rerature on the inside. due TO develop
ment OF energy by the Subject under
observation. may be accurately judged by
the records of the automatic instrument
already referred TO. Electrical appliances
are relied upon to considerable extent
for registering the phenomena noted.
Not only Is all the waste from the
mans body analysed and weighed, but
| the air is subjected to analysis before IL
goes into and after 1t comes out of the
box. BY the latter process 1t is discovered
Just what elements and how much of
them ha been given of from the lungs
OF the person In breathing. and, every
thing that goes into the body of the sub
Ject being known, as we'll as the outgo, 1t
Is easy TO ASCERTAIN what has been used to
make flesh, fat and blood. This individ-
uai In the box. which has glass windows,
has bsen required in recent experiments
| to spend four days In complete repose,
| reading or otherwise amusing himself
quietly, and the four following days in
the most active sort of muscular occupa.
tion. driving the stationary bicycle for
| century runs.
This device of the stationary bicycle is
decidedly ingenious, being designed sim.
~ no.x rsff
lar work into heat within the box. The
work is transformed into electrical ensr-
gy by means of q SIN all dynamo belted to
the driving wheel of the machine, and
the current thus produced Ia measured in
terms OF ohms and volts. So delicate is
the apparatus, however, that notable
changes In the registering Instruments
are caused by the man In dressing and
undressing, IN eating his meals, and In
putting MP and taking down the folding
table and bsd provided as necessary rurni-
ture for the insulated chamber.
Life in q respiration calorimeter," as
the live-box Is technically called, is nos
wildly exciting. The occupant is re-
quired to do everything by clockwork, as
IL were, and even the vigorous exercise
on the stationary bicycle lacks exclte-
menI Severe and unvarying is the pro-
gramme for the subject. who Is required
to rise at a. IN. precisely, and, after
weighing himself on scales provided for
the purpose inside the chamber, TO taks
his breakfast. After breakfast he weighs
himself again, at $50 he mounts the
wheel. Continuing his ride to nowhere
for exactly two hours, he then takes ten
minutes rest, during which he weighs
himself once more and drinks measured
portion of water. Then he wheels for
another two hours, ard so on through the
day, Weighing himself ut frequent inter-
walls and going 10 bed at TO- 10.
1t will be seen from this description
why in this kind of work, 1t has been
deemed judicious to begin with man, and
to pursue the experiments later on with
the lower animals. A human being in
the chamber Is able to record observations
intelligently, thus helping very import
antly the scientists In charge, and his 40
tions can be controlled. In fact the ex-
perience already gained by such trials
with men is now being utilized in plan
ming similar noxes on larger scale Tor
the accommodation of horses and cows,
while sheep, dogs and even rabbits viii