Gout is generally considered a disease of metabolism. For this reason different types of metabolic studies have been made by a large numbers of investigators. A summary of these investigations will be found in the reports of Magnus Levy,1 McClure and Pratt2 and McClure.3 The gaseous metabolism of gouty patients was studied by Magnus Levy by means of the Zuntz method of indirect calorimetry. He found the heat production calculated on the basis of body weight and the respiratory quotients to be within the limits of variation considered as normal. We have made a study of the heat production of gouty persons as calculated from the oxygen consumption for the three following reasons:
In order to compare the heat production during the period of acute gouty attacks with that present when the patients were free from symptoms.
For the purpose of comparing the basal metabolism of gouty patients on purin-free and