Introduction. 5 



of a 5-day fast made with a medical student, " J. A.," in the Stockholm labora- 

 tory by Johansson, Landergren, Sonden, and Tigerstedt. These and other 

 experiments with men will frequently be referred to in this report. 



An examination of the various kinds of fasts outlined above shows that a 

 distinction may be made between what may be termed normal and pathological 

 fasting. The first, second, and probably even the third class should be included, 

 with the fourth, under the head of " Pathological fasting." A criticism has been 

 raised 13 as to whether insane patients are abnormal as regards their metabolism. 

 According to Tuczek " there is every reason to believe that in many instances 

 persons mentally unsound have an abnormal metabolism. Admitting that the 

 mental attitude may produce abnormalities in metabolism, it is not at all 

 unreasonable to suppose that in instances where persons are deprived of food 

 through accident the mental strain may likewise result in abnormal metabolism. 

 It is thus seen that only in the case of the hypnotic subjects, professional 

 fasters, and other voluntary subjects, can we have what may be clearly asserted 

 to be normal or " physiological " fasting. 



STUDY OF FASTING WITH ANIMALS. 



Eecognizing the difficulty of securing willing human subjects, investigations 

 on the metabolism of fasting animals, usually dogs, have been made. The 

 results obtained are of value to physiology in general, but of less value to human 

 physiology. The metabolism of the dog is not that of man, for the nature of 

 the food is such as to demand markedly different treatment in the alimentary 

 tract. Both the stimuli to secretion and the composition of the digestive fluids 

 are markedly different, and it seems probable that the deductions from the 

 experiments with animals are of questionable value when applied to man. 

 This is perhaps even more noticeable in experimenting in pharmacology than 

 in physiology, yet it is true that marked differences in physiological character- 

 istics are observed between animals and men. While, therefore, in this report 

 the attempt is made to give a complete bibliography of scientific experiments on 

 fasting men, reference in the text to experiments on animals is made only as 

 occasion demands, and there is no attempt to present a complete list of the 

 experiments on fasting animals. 15 



13 Atwater, Eleventh annual report of the (New York) State commission in 

 lunacy (1899), p. 202; Folin, Amer. Jour. Insanity (1904), 60, No. 4, and 61, No. 2. 



"Archiv fur Psychiatrie u. Nervenkrankheiten (1884), 15, p. 784. 



15 F. A. Falck, Beitrage zur Physiologie, Hygiene, Pharmakologie und Toxikologie 

 (1875), has an excellent bibliography of all work on metabolism during fasting 

 completed prior to 1875. Other bibliographies of the subject are given by Weber, 

 Ergebnisse der Physiologie (1902), 1, p. 702; Schaefer, Textbook of Physiology 

 (1898), vol. i, p. 891; Atwater & Langworthy, A digest of metabolism experiments 

 (1898), Bull. 45, Office of Experiment Stations, U. S. Dept. of Agriculture; in the 

 preparation of this report, the excellent Index Catalogue of the Library of the 

 Surgeon-General's Office, U. S. Army, Washington (1880-1904), has been of great 

 assistance. 



