The effects of environmental temperature on the basal heat production had been examined in every season of the year and described in report I to IV (Japanese J. Nutr. 13, 135; 14, 43, 49, 1956; 15, 83, 1957). In this paper the results of these previous reports are summarized.
1) The increases of the heat production at the environmental temperatures from 40°C to -20°C in seasonal measurements were as shown in table I, and these rising metabolic values were estimated as in table 4, excluding the influence of the restless. These data show that the heat production within the first hour at 10°C and 0°C temperatures do not increase significantly when the subject is kept at warm condition with clothing. Even at lower temperature -10°C, the rise of metabolism at the first hour is only two per cent in case of warmly clothed condition. This fact was demonstrated theoritically in the previous experiment by the method that the subject's head was exposured in the cold room (0°C and -16°C) and his body was placed in the comfortable room (30°C).
This result will wake a practical contribution to the question in case of measuring the basal metabolism in snch place where airconditioning is not adequate in winter.
2) The basal heat productions at the artificially different temperatures showed differences in seasonal measurements: the increase of the heat production in cold environment remained at lower level in winter and spring as compared with other seasons, and in winter, moreover, the metabolism in hot environment did not increase so much as in other seasons. This seasonal inclination suggests that in winter the physiological status of human is much tolerable or adaptable against a wide range of environmental temperatures.
In addition, the variation of the respiratory quotient, pulse rate, respiration rate, blood pressure and skin temperature were observed.
