;;j-. ) Influence of Inanition on Metabolism. 



It is further of interest to compare the ratios between the respiration rate 

 and pulse rate in the series of 2-day fasting experiments. While with normal 

 individuals the pulse rate is usually 4.5 times that of the respiration, here very 

 wide variations in this ratio occur from day to day and indeed from hour to 

 hour. Inspection of the data confirms the belief that at least during the first 

 2 days of fast the pulse rate is much more liable to fluctuations than the 

 respiration rate. 



BLOOD. 



In many of the earlier fasting experiments, both with animals and with 

 men, examinations of the blood, chemical and microscopical, were included 

 in the routine of the investigation. Unfortunately almost all of the chemical 

 work, when viewed from the standpoint of the present knowledge of the 

 chemistry of the blood, is extremely unsatisfactory, and it is greatly to be 

 regretted that the microscopical examination of the blood was not carried 

 out in all cases by methods that are free from criticism. Although micro- 

 scopic examination is a phase of investigation distinctly outside the sphere 

 of the ordinary chemical laboratory, it was possible in some of the experiments 

 here reported to make such examinations of the blood, although with by no 

 means the completeness that could be desired. Such information as was 

 obtained is accordingly here presented and the question of the influence of 

 inanition upon the composition of the blood discussed. 



Luciani, in 1890, made an examination of the blood of Succi every third 

 day during the 30-day fast at Florence. The erythrocytes and leucocytes 

 were counted and the relative amount of hemoglobin determined. The results 

 are expressed in the form of a curve. 23 



The erythrocytes showed fluctuations during the fast, with a tendency for 

 the number per cubic millimeter to increase as the fast progressed. Although 

 convinced of the relative increase in the number of erythrocytes, Luciani 

 contends that there is no evidence that the absolute number in the blood of 

 the body is increased. These fluctuations are explained by Luciani as the 

 result of changes in the water content of the blood. 



The results of the hemoglobin tests showed a loss of hemoglobin unaccom- 

 panied by a loss of erythrocytes. The leucocytes were very considerably dimin- 

 ished (from 14,536 on the first day of the fast to 861 on the seventh fasting 

 day). Both Luciani and Daiber * discuss in considerable detail the relations 

 of the blood to metabolism. 



Senator & Mueller (7), in reporting the results of their examinations of 

 the blood of Cetti and Breithaupt, note an increase in the red blood corpuscles 

 with both subjects. In the case of Cetti it was very considerable, amounting 

 to more than 1,000,000 per cubic millimeter. The blood of Breithaupt, on 

 the contrary, showed only a slight increase. 



23 Das Hungern, Leipzig (1890), Tafel i. * Loc. cit. 



