96 



METABOLISM IN SEVERE DIABETES. 



Here again we find the ever-occurring changes in water-content com- 

 pletely masking all information with regard to the loss of organized body-tissue. 

 The water given off from the body is from two sources, first, the preformed 

 water existing as such in the tissues, and, second, the water resulting from the 

 oxidation or burning of organized body-material. The respiration calorimeter 

 with its accessory appliances shows us the method by which the water leaves 

 the body, but it does not tell us whether the water from these two sources has 

 any selective method of discharge; thus, all the water formed from the combus- 

 tion of organic tissue is not excreted through the lungs and skin, nor is the 

 water drunk all excreted through the kidneys. The data for the losses in 

 gross weight cease to be of any service to us, therefore, in telling us what pro- 

 portion of the daily loss is due to the oxidation of organized tissue. 



As a result of a large number of calorimetric experiments on men, both fast- 

 ing and with food, it can be shown that the average man at rest without food 

 may oxidize per day about 75 grams of protein, 25 grams of glycogen, and 200 

 grains of fat, a total of 300 grams of water-free organized body-tissue. It can 

 be readily seen, therefore, that with subjects at rest large changes in weight 

 must be due not to the oxidation of organic matter, which amounts to only 300 



Table 114. Loss in body-weight after severe muscular exercise. 



Subject. 



Football player 



Marathon runner 



College 8-oared boat crew 



Duration 

 of work. 



hrs. min. 



1 10 

 3 



22 



Loss in 

 weight. 



lbs. 



14.0 



8.5 



5.5 



kilos. 

 6.4 

 3.9 

 2.5 



grams per day, but to large excretions of water. With increased muscular 

 activity we have both increased destruction of organized tissue and likewise 

 very large increases in the amount of water lost from the body. This is well 

 shown by the records of losses in body-weight due to the excessive exercise of 

 athletes, and while the observations lack that finality in conclusions that experi- 

 ments in the calorimeter have, yet they are of great interest. The strenuous 

 exercise incidental to eight-oared boat racing and to football games, particu- 

 larly in the early fall, when the subjects are not perfectly trained and when the 

 weather is liable to be hot, has frequently been made the subject of more or less 

 observation. Thanks to the kindness of Prof. William G. Anderson, of the 

 Yale University gymnasium, we are able to present authoritative figures on 

 this subject. A number of years ago a well-known football player at Yale was 

 weighed before and after a contest which lasted in all about an hour of actual 

 playing. During the period this man, whose original body- weight was 191 

 pounds, actually lost 14 pounds. This observation, together with some others 

 likewise furnished by Professor Anderson, are given in table 114. As pre- 

 viously stated, a man sitting quietly loses weight as the result of insensible 

 perspiration approximately 40 grams per hour. The football player lost 6,000 

 grams, or 150 times as much. 



