396 Influence of Inanition on Metabolism. 



The earliest records of the determination of uric acid in the urine of fasting 

 man with which we are familiar are those of Banke." In three 24-hour fasts 

 he found 0.236, 0.033, and 0.24 gram of uric acid, respectively. The author 

 makes no comment on the unusually small amount obtained in the second 

 experiment. 



Pettenkofer and Voit 75 determined the uric acid in a 24-hour fast. The 

 authors report that the subject excreted 0.5584 gram of uric acid. Unques- 

 tionably this excretion was somewhat augmented by the considerable quantities 

 of beef extract that were consumed. 



Uric acid was not determined by Luciani (4) in the experiments on Succi. 



Monaco 76 determined the uric acid in a 20-day fast made by Succi. Using 

 the Salkowski method he obtained on the last day with food 0.8228 gram of 

 uric acid, and on the eighteenth and twentieth days of the fast 0.2565 and 0.244 

 gram, respectively. On the second day after the fast the uric acid amounted 

 to 0.5539 gram. According to the author the relation between the total nitrogen 

 and uric acid did not appear constant. 



In the two fasting experiments reported by Sadovyen (2) uric acid was 

 determined. In the first experiment, which lasted 2 days, and during which 

 no water was consumed, the subject excreted 0.301 gram of uric acid in 24 

 hours. On the second day 0.291 gram was excreted. In a subsequent 4-day 

 fasting experiment, the uric acid excretion was 0.412, 0.201, 0.301, and 0.357 

 gram, respectively. 



The most elaborate series of observations recording the excretion of uric 

 acid in fasting man is that of E. & O. Freund (10). The uric acid-nitrogen 

 was determined on nearly every day of the 21-day fast. The largest amount 

 recorded was on the first day, 0.29 gram (0.87 gram uric acid), and the 

 smallest amount on the twenty-first day, 0.046 gram (0.138 gram uric acid). 

 The quantity of uric acid-nitrogen gradually diminished as the fast progressed, 

 although but little change occurred after the fifth day. 



Brugsch (12) reports only the total purin-nitrogen, no attempt being made 

 to isolate the nitrogen of uric acid. For the last 7 days of the 30-day fast, the 

 total purin-nitrogen varied from 0.104 gram to 0.146 gram. 



Schreiber & Waldvogel" observed the uric acid output of two individuals 

 each of whom fasted 3 days. The uric acid excretion for the 3 successive days 

 was 0.290, 0.233, and 0.197 gram with one subject, and 0.718, 0.405, and 0.205 

 gram with the second subject. E. Orgler 78 reports that during a 1-day fast he 

 excreted 0.480 gram of uric acid. 



"Arch. Anat. u. Physiol. (1862), p. 340. 



"Zeitschr. f. Biol. (1866), 2, p. 479. 



"Bull, della Soc. Lancis degli ospedali d. Roma (1894), xrv, 2, p. 102. Ab- 

 stracted in Schmidt's Jahrbiicher, 252, p. 109. 



"Archiv f. experimentelle Path. u. Pharm. (1899), 42, p. 69. 



"Allg. med. Ctrl.-Zeitung, 1896, No. 66. Cited by Magnus-Levy, Physiologie des 

 Stoffwechsels (1905), p. 134. 



