Low Basal Metabolism Without Myxedema

In a study of low basal metabolism following thyrotoxicosis, Thompson and Thompson1were impressed by its frequency and by the fact that an underfunction of the thyroid could be demonstrated in only a comparatively small number of cases. Several of the patients appeared to be healthy in spite of low metabolism. These results made it appear desirable to make a study of low basal metabolism in general. A low metabolic rate following toxic goiter has been observed by Elliott,2Jordan3and Cabot4in a few patients who did not appear myxedematous. Means and Burgess,5in reviewing the basal metabolisms of the first 1,000 subjects on whom such a determination was made at the Massachusetts General Hospital, reported rates of minus 15 per cent or lower in 16 cases exclusive of disorders of the thyroid. Boothby and Sandiford,6in summarizing the metabolism data of 8,614 subjects at the Mayo Clinic, found