342 Influence of Inanition on Metabolism. 



Mueller, 83 in an experiment with a patient with oesophagus stenosis, states 

 that after four days complete fast there were 17.1 grams of dried feces, or 

 4.35 grams per day. He also cites two instances of the fasting insane in 

 which the quantities per day were 5.9 and 4.8 grams, respectively, of dried 

 feces. Since, however, in at least two of these cases, the fasting period extended 

 beyond the actual period of the observations, these amounts would be somewhat 

 diminished. For example, in the first instance, the four days of fast during 

 which the patient was under observation were actually the 5th to 8th days 

 of complete inanition. Mueller calls especial attention to the fact that it was 

 very difficult to separate the feces in this period. Furthermore, in the second 

 case of the fasting insane, the six days were from the 4th to the 9th fasting 

 days. No evidence is given as to whether feces were passed on or before the 

 beginning of this period, or whether the subject simply came to the attention 

 of the observer at this time. 



In reporting the results of Luciani on Succi, Mueller has interpreted the 

 weight of feces reported by Luciani, i. e., 150 grams, as the weight in the dried 

 condition, while Luciani specifically states (4) that they were in all instances 

 weighed in a pasty condition. On this basis the amount of dried material of 

 feces excreted by Succi is reduced from 5 grams per day as computed by 

 Mueller to about 1.5 grams. 



In the Naples (6) fast, Succi passed feces amounting to 72 grams (23 

 grams dry matter) on the second day of the fast. By means of purgatives 

 317 grams of feces (80 grams dry matter) were obtained on the 11th day. 

 Thus there were 103 grams of dry feces collected during the first 11 days. No 

 more feces were passed during the rest of the 21-day fast. 



The feces passed by Succi in the Vienna fast (10) weighed in the dry 

 form 53 grams. They were collected twice during the 21-day fast. Unfortu- 

 nately practically all the data regarding the feces were lost. The only 

 observation on the defecation of Succi during the Hamburg fast is that of 

 Brugsch (12), who states that during the last 14 days of the fast there was 

 no defecation. 



It has frequently been considered, especially in the earlier experiments, that 

 all feces passed after the beginning of a fast were fasting feces. In considering 

 specifically the problem of the formation of feces in fasting men, it is import- 

 ant to bear in mind that at the beginning of the fast the alimentary tract is 

 more or less filled with material varying in composition from the partly 

 digested food of the last meal remaining in the stomach or the upper part of 

 the small intestine to the feces in the colon. 



88 In criticism of Mueller's observations on fasting feces, it should be said that 

 the quantity per day observed in Cetti's experiment is recorded differently in two 

 places. On p. 17 (Untersuch. an zwei hungernden Mensch. Reference (7)) the 

 amount is given as 3.4147 grams per day, while on p. 106 of the same article the 

 amount is given as 3.818 grams per day. 



