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that his sheep chamber was useless because the gas analysis was 
useless and he was very much inclined to turn the entire sheep 
chamber into the Haldane principle, that is, to weigh chamber, sheep, 
etc., but this seemed to me profoundly fantastic. His associate, 
who worked hard, had lost heart in the work since this gas-analysis 
apparatus had been so poor. Sometimes he had found 22 per cent of 
oxygen and could not find the leak. They are using Shipley's reagent 
and test under pressure and under vacuum and the apparatus is perfectly 
tight and then suddenly it is of no use. The very complicated mercury 
apparatus in which the level of the mercury was to be photographed 
(as shown in my 1929 report) is not used. 
My impression of his laboratory was that given a Carpenter 
apparatus Mr. Fox and Robert Lee could put the whole place on a good 
basis technically in six months. 
Wiegner has now a rat apparatus immersed in water and this is 
used for vitamin-B work. He finds that with rats with vitamin-B free 
diet there is no change in basal metabolism up to the point of death 
and there is no change in the respiratory quotient. He expected the 
acidic condition of the body to "eat up the bones" as he put it. 
Formerly he used a mercury seal for his rat apparatus but found that 
the mercury killed the rats, as they are susceptible to mercury fumes, 
and now he uses an oil seal or salt solution. 
All his experimental work is done on rabbits. I do not like it. 
I think he is assuming too much to draw conclusions on rabbits for 
other animals. From a statement of H. T. Karsner we found out that 
rabbits are very prone to be abnormal. You can never tell until they 
have been dissected whether you have done your work on abnormal 
animals or not. 
Wiegner gave me a number of his papers. He is an important man 
to keep in touch with.