320 Influence of Inanition on Metabolism. 



RATE OF RESPIRATION. 



The well-known effect of muscular work in increasing the rate of respiration 

 makes records of this factor of importance in fasting experiments as a further 

 index to the degree of internal muscular work. In several of the earlier fasts 

 the respiration rate was observed. 



Luciani (4) found with Succi a respiration rate of from 15 to 25 per minute. 

 The average rate for the last week of the fast was 18 per minute. 



In connection with the numerous experiments on Cetti and Breithaupt to 

 determine the respiratory exchange, Lehmann & Zuntz (7) had occasion to 

 record the rate of respiration. It should be said, however, that the subject 

 was in all cases breathing through the mouthpiece of the Zuntz-Geppert 

 respiration apparatus, and hence the rate may not have been normal. The 

 average rate per minute for Cetti observed duriug the respiration experiments 

 on the ten fasting days was 13.1, 14.1, 13.3, 14.6, 15.4, 16.2, 17.3, 17.6, 16.2, 

 15.7. On the second food day the average rate was 13.05 per minute. Fifteen 

 days after the end of the fast the average rate was 12.1 per minute. 



Observations were made with Breithaupt during both work and rest. The 

 data were obtained as with Cetti during the progress of a respiration experi- 

 ment with the Zuntz-Geppert respiration apparatus. The rates of respiration 

 when at rest for the 6 days of the fast were: 19.2, 19.0, 20.4, 22.8, 26.3, 22.2 

 per minute, respectively. The average for the 2 days with food before the 

 fast was 17.9 per minute, for the fasting period 21.5 per minute, and for the 2 

 days with food following the fast 23.6 per minute. Similar fluctuations were 

 observed in the respiration rate during muscular work. 



Paton and Stockman (3) state that during his 30-day fast Jacques's res- 

 piration rate varied from 23 to 30 per minute. 



In all the experiments cited above, the respiration rate was recorded only 

 during the waking hours. In the 8-day experiment with Sohn, Hoover & 

 Sollman (8) recorded the respiration every hour. The average rate per 

 minute for each day was found to be 18, 26, 20, 19, 19, 18, 17, 20, respectively. 

 The lowest rate was 13, the highest 45 per minute. In general it was lowest 

 during the night, although the subject was in a hypnotic sleep during the 

 whole time of the study. 



For all the Middletown experiments prior to No. 79, no data are available 

 regarding the respiration rate. Several futile attempts were made to secure 

 respiration rates from time to time, but it was not until the Fitz pneumograph 

 was used that any satisfactory data could be obtained. 



In experiment No. 79 the average number of respirations per minute during 

 the preliminary night was 12. During the first day, from 7 a. m. to 11 p. m., 

 while the subject was awake the rate was not far from 18. This high rate 

 continued throughout the night and the next forenoon, increasing during the 

 second day and decreasing only very slightly during the last night. On the 



