A manometric analysis of the metabolism in avian ontogenesis. I.—The normal respiratory quotient of blastoderm, embryo, and yolk-sac during the first week of development

Abstract

Abstract In a previous paper (Needbam, 1932) tbe results of manometric experiments on the extra-embryonic membranes of the hen’s egg were described. These experiments, however, were confined to the measurement of oxygen-uptake, their main interest centering in the degree to which the membranes participated in the metabolism of the whole egg, and did not include any measurements of the respiratory quotient. Difficult though the respiratory quotient may be to interpret, it must still be recognised as an essential preliminary to the analysis of the metabolism of a living system, and a considerable number of •estimations of the quotient on the blastoderm, embryo, and yolk-sac of the chick during its first week of development have accordingly been made.