CHAP, v.] NUTRITION. 789 



Adult Man. Newborn Baby. 



Skeleton 15'9p.c. 17 "7 p. c. 



Muscles 41-8 22-9 



Thoracic viscera 17 3'0 



Abdominal viscera 7 "2 11 '5 



Fat 18-2 ( 20 . 



Skin 6-9 \ 



Brain 1'9 15'8 



An analysis of a cat has given the following result : 



Muscles and tendons 45 "0 p. c. 



Bones 147 



Skin 12-0 



Mesentery and adipose tissue 3'8 



Liver 4'8 



Blood (escaping at death) 6'0 



Other organs and tissues 137 



One point of importance to be noticed in these analyses is that 

 the skeletal muscles form nearly half the body ; we have already 

 seen ( 38) that about a quarter of the total blood in the body is 

 contained in them, and have already ( 484) insisted that a large 

 part of the metabolism of the body is carried on in the muscles. 

 Next to the muscles we must place the liver, for though far less in 

 bulk than them, it is subject to a very active metabolism ; this is 

 suggested by the fact that it alone may hold about a quarter of the 

 whole blood, and is also indicated by the numerous facts brought 

 before us in the preceding chapter. 



520. The Starving Body. Before attempting to study the 

 influence of food, it will be useful to ascertain what changes occur 

 in a body when all food is withheld. A cat of known weight was 

 starved for 13 days. At the beginning of the period the body was 

 presumed to have the composition given above ; at the close of the 

 period a direct analysis of the body was made. From this it 

 appeared that during the hunger period the cat had lost 734 

 grammes of solid material, of which 248 '8 were fat and 11 8' 2 

 muscle, the remainder being derived from the other tissues. The 

 percentages of dry solid matter lost by the more important tissues 

 during the period were as follows : 



Adipose tissue 97 '0 p. c. 



Spleen 631 



Liver 56'6 



Muscles 30-2 



Blood 17-6 



Brain and spinal cord O'O ,, 



Thus the loss during starvation fell most heavily on the fat, in- 

 deed nearly the whole of this disappeared. Next to the fat, the 



