302 Influence of Inanition on Metabolism. 



until 5 h 30 ra a. m., February 21, neither food nor drink was taken. He weighed 

 himself at 7 h 30 m a. m., February 20, and again at 5 a. m., February 21. 

 During this period the body-weight was reduced from 77.64 kg. to 75.77 kg., 

 that is, in 21 hours there was a loss in weight of 1.87 kg. The author 

 calculates that for 24 hours the total loss in weight would have amounted to 

 2.09 kg. and that if he had weighed himself immediately after the evening 

 meal on the 19th, the loss for the entire period would have been 2.34 kg. The 

 balance used was accurate to 45 grams. 



In the three 24-hour fasting experiments reported by Pettenkofer and Voit * 

 the losses in body-weight were 930, 660, and 680 grams, respectively. In the 

 last experiment work was performed. 



Eanke 8 lost 1.130 grams in weight in a 24-hour fast with no water. Obser- 

 vations began 24 hours after the last meal, and consequently corresponded to 

 those on the second fasting day. 



Nicholson (1) made observations on a fasting prisoner whose body-weight 

 at the beginning was 107 pounds and 100^ pounds on the sixth day, after 

 a small portion of food had been taken. According to the statement of the 

 author, there was absolute fast from the commencement up to the fifth day, 

 during which period there was a loss of 7 pounds (3.2 kg.). At the end of the 

 third day the loss was 5 pounds or an average loss of 1.7 pounds per day. 

 On the fourth day the subject lost 1 pound and during the fifth day the author 

 estimates that he lost 1 pound although weighings were not made. Assuming a 

 loss of 1 pound on the fifth day, there was an average daily loss of 1.4 pounds 

 during the period of starvation, the greatest loss appearing during the first 

 part of the experiment. 



Miiller 4 reports a case of fasting caused by oesophagus stenosis, in which 

 the body-weight on the sixth of July was 34.5 kilos, and on the ninth of July 

 was 33 kilos. These 4 days, which represented the fifth to eighth day of 

 complete inanition, resulted, therefore, in the loss to the body of 1.5 kg. The 

 body-weight of the subject, however, was much below the normal. 



Schaefer * reports the body weights of a number of insane persons who fasted. 

 One woman 51 years old, weighing about 68 kg., fasted from March 3 to March 

 8, but drank 500 cc. of water per day. On March 6, the body-weight was 63.3 

 kg. and on March 7 it was 63.3 kg. A second case was that of a woman 

 57 years old, weighing 56 kg., who fasted from March 19, drinking only a little 

 water and clear cold coffee. On March 23, the body-weight was 49.3 kg., on 

 the 24th, 48.8 kg., and on the 25th, 48 kg. 



Another instance was that of a woman weighing 41.2 kg., who fasted 

 from April 28 until May 4. No water nor food was consumed. On the 

 second of May the body-weight was 38.7 kg., and on May 3, 37.85 kg. 



2 Zeit. f. Biol. (1866), 2, p. 479. 

 8 Die Ernahrung des Menschen (1876), p. 211. 

 <Zeit. f. klin. Medicin (1889), 16, p. 496. 

 6 Allgem. Zeit. f. Psychiatrie (1897), 53, p. 525. 



