Metabolism Experiment No. 59. 



37 



water output and oxygen intake, it is possible to strike a complete balance of 

 intake and outgo. Such a balance may for convenience be tabulated in the form 

 shown in table 8. The income, which on the first day amounted to 629.42 

 grams of oxygen, is small as compared with the total outgo, which 

 amounted to 3193.67 grams of material. The outgo is subdivided into water 

 of urine, solids of urine, water of respiration and perspiration, and carbon 

 dioxide. 



In considering this table, it should further be stated that there were no 

 feces passed during the time of this experiment, and moreover it was impossible 

 to separate any feces which could with any certainty be designated " fasting 

 feces." For this reason the question of the status of feces in connection with 

 this table is eliminated. 



From the chemical composition of water and carbon dioxide and the chemical 

 analysis of the solids in urine, it is possible to compute the amounts of the 

 different elements involved in the katabolic transformations. Thus, the 1494.5 

 grams of water in the urine of the first day can be subdivided into 167.23 grams 

 of hydrogen and 1327.27 grams of oxygen. In the case of solids in urine we 

 have, from the chemical analyses, 11.84 grams of nitrogen, 8.71 grams of 

 carbon, 2.6 grams of hydrogen of organic matter, 16.21 grams of oxygen, and 

 6.94 grams of ash, the ash here being treated as an element. The amounts of 

 carbon and oxygen in carbon dioxide are also shown, together with the total 

 outgo in terms of nitrogen, carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, and ash. By deducting 

 the oxygen of the intake, a total loss to the body of 2564.25 grams of material 

 is obtained, of which the larger part is obviously oxygen derived from the 

 water of respiration and carbon dioxide and water in the urine. A similar 

 computation for the second and third days shows losses to the body of 1963.45 

 grams and 1876.19 grams of material, respectively. From these losses of the 

 chemical elements it is possible to compute the losses of compounds. The 

 computations are based upon the chemical analyses of body protein, body fat, 

 and glycogen. For body protein, the work of Koehler 4 has been taken. For 

 body fat, the analyses of human fat in this laboratory are used, 5 and the carbo- 

 hydrates existing in the body are assumed to be chiefly glycogen. The following 

 is a tabular statement of the composition assumed in these computations : 



4 Zeit. f. physiol. Chemie (1901), 31, 498. 



5 Benedict & Osterberg, Amer. Jour. Physiol. (1900), 4, p. 74. 



