338 Influence of Inanition on Metabolism. 



resulting from a flesh diet, and many analyses of so-called " fasting feces " 

 show a similar chemical composition. Indeed, Voir, on the basis of the 

 quantity of material thus secured by a ligature of a section of the intestine, 

 has computed the total amount that would be found in the whole intestine. 

 This was found to correspond with the total quantity of feces excreted during 

 normal feeding experiments. It is a well-known fact that fasting animals while 

 passing feces with more or less regularity, reject much smaller amounts of 

 fecal matter than do animals which are fed. 



If, therefore, the material formed in a ligatured intestine is a true index 

 of the actual amount thrown off under normal conditions during fasting, there 

 must be a marked subsequent absorption of such material as it passes farther 

 along through the intestines. Hence it is not logical to conclude that because 

 large amounts of epithelial debris are found in the ligatured intestine of a dog 

 consuming food, proportional amounts may be formed and pass through and 

 out of the alimentary tract during fasting. 



The withdrawal of food results in a cessation of the stimuli to peristalsis 

 and thus affects the expulsion of feces, while the total mass of fecal matter 

 becomes diminished as a result of the absence of undigested material, the 

 diminished flow of digestive fluids, and the decreased mass of intestinal debris 

 resulting from the quiescence of the alimentary tract. Fasting, therefore, 

 affects first the amount and regularity of defecation. 



In considering the influence of fasting on the frequency of defecation, it 

 is important to note that there is usually a normal amount of partially digested 

 food in the alimentary tract at the beginning of a fast. Moreover, in many 

 instances the subjects partake of an unusually large amount of food on the day, 

 if not, indeed, the last meal of the day, immediately preceding the first day 

 of the fast. As a result, this undigested and partially digested food in all 

 probability undergoes the normal digestive processes, and gives rise to the 

 production and flow of digestive juices, leaving according to its nature more 

 or less unabsorbed material in the alimentary tract. Obviously, the fecal 

 matter resulting from food thus ingested prior to the fast can not in any way 

 be considered as fasting feces. The influence of the fecal matter thus formed 

 on the regularity of defecation during fasting naturally varies with the amount 

 and character of the diet before the fast, the length of time intervening between 

 the last meal and the beginning of the fast, and the usual habits of defecation 

 of the subject. 



In the large majority of the fasts recorded in the literature, no feces were 

 passed during the fasting period. This was the case in Schaefer's so obser- 

 vations on the fasting insane. 



Nicholson's fasting prisoner (1) did not defecate until the twelfth day of 

 the experiment, though only the first 6 days were wholly without food. 



M Loc. cit. 



