Through the kindness of Mr. Charles Wesley Davis, of the Y. M. C. A. College, we are permitted to use some pulse-rate data obtained under his direction at the noon and evening meals with Squad A and with all three meals with Squad B. For this series of observations each man was instructed to count his own pulse once during the meal and record it on a tablet on the table. The counts were made from October 17 to the end of the research.

Pulse Records At Meal Times, Squad A

As an indication of the ordinary course of the pulse-rate counted under these conditions at the noon meal, we reproduce in table 88 a section from one of the tables in Mr. Davis's thesis. This shows the values obtained with Squad A at noon from October 17 to November 30. The counts were of course obtained with varying amounts of food in the stomach and after considerable conversation and minor movement, and they may also have been preceded by a somewhat brisk walk to the dining-hall. On the other hand, these irregularities are more or less eliminated in the averages for each day which are recorded at the extreme right in table 88. In considering these records, it should be noted that the actual number of men included in the averages varied but little from day to day. The tendency shown in the records from October 17 to November 30 is for the average pulse to fall somewhat. The absolute minimum average for the squad during this period is 47 on November 24, the average on this day representing the entire squad.

Table 88. - Individual Pulse Records At Noon Meal - Squad A

1 These records were obtained with Fre who left Squad A on Oct. 25.

2 In Boston Oct. 28; no record taken.

3 In Boston Nov. 11; no record taken.

4 In Boston Nov. 25; no record taken.

5 111 with a cold.

6 Thanksgiving Day; the men had full diet.

As a general index of the trend of the averages for the entire period of the test, we reproduce another table from Mr. Davis's thesis which gives average values for periods of approximately 2 weeks for the whole series of noon observations for each subject. (See table 89).

Table 89. - Average -Pulse Records At Noon Meal - Squad A

1 From Oct. 30 to 31. The average for Fre, whom he replaced, was 65 for Oct. 17 to 25.

2 From Dec. 5 to 12.

3 Tom had an operation during the Christmas vacation. See his personal history, page 52.

These averages indicate a fall to a level of 54 during the observations from November 16 to December 19. The high value from January 7 to 20 is due to the increase noted with all the men after the return from the Christmas vacation. The values for January 21 to February 2 are again at the lower level. None of the observations averaged in this table were obtained during full diet, save for the last two days in November.

As an illustration of the observations made at the evening meal, the records for October 17 to November 30 are reproduced in table 90, in which the daily averages are likewise given at the extreme right. Here again a tendency is shown for the pulse-rate to fall as the study progressed, the absolute minimum for the entire squad (53 beats) being noted on three days, November 8, 23, and 24. An unusually high value was obtained on November 29, which was due in no small part to the extraordinarily high pulse-rate of Tom of 104, which was recorded as the highest individual pulse-rate noted for Squad A.

Table 90. - Individual Pulse Records At Evening Meal - Squad A

1 These records were obtained with Fre who left Squad A on Oct. 25.

2 In Boston Oct. 28; no record taken.

3 In Boston Nov. 11; no record taken. 4 In Boston Nov. 25; no record taken.

5 Thanksgiving Day; the men had full diet. No record for Nov. 28.

6 Highest individual rate during entire test with Squad A.

The averages for the successive periods of the observations for the evening meals are given in table 91 and show little, if any, positive change due to the diet. The level after the first period in table 91 remains remarkably constant at 58. From January 7 to 20 this level rises to 64, but again falls to 58 in the last period of the observations. From tables 89 and 91, therefore, while something can be inferred regarding the influence of reduced diet upon the pulse-rate, evidently averages obtained in this way for long periods will not suffice for a clear analysis, and a better idea may be obtained from a graphic representation of the individual values. Such representation is given in figure 91, (p. 411) in which the curves for the lying and sitting values obtained with Squad A are compared with each other.

Table 91. - Average Pulse Records At Evening Meal - Squad A