418 Influence of Inanition on Metabolism. 



his food, that in the latter part of the first nitrogen metabolism experiment, 

 i. e., the days immediately preceding experiment No. 77, he consumed con- 

 siderably more table salt than formerly. Unfortunately, weighings of the 

 salt consumed were not made and hence this impression lacks scientific 

 verification. An inspection of the menus of the food consumed during the 

 nitrogen metabolism experiments would tend to verify this observation, since 

 the subject used a little meat, which was contrary to his earlier custom. The 

 subject of experiment No. 83 reports, on the other hand, that it is his custom 

 to use average amounts of table salt, but the term " average " is at best 

 vague. It is hardly probable that with the large amount of food eaten by 

 the subject, S. A. B., during all the periods between the fasting experiments, 

 there was not a considerable amount of sodium chloride consumed with the 

 food, although a comparatively small amount of cooked food was commonly 

 taken. Unfortunately, data regarding the retention of sodium chloride after 

 the fast are lacking. Taking the data as presented in table 216, the results 

 of experiments Nos. 73, 75 and 83, and indeed those of No. 77, certainly do 

 not point toward the excretion of any considerable amount of excess chlorine 

 accumulated in the body prior to the fast. 



A striking exception to the general trend of the experiments is seen in 

 experiment No. 83, in which the chlorine excretion on the two days of the 

 fast was 0.517 and 0.628 gram respectively. The analyses were repeated 

 several times and the possibility of error seems to be eliminated. 



Proportion of sodium chloride in ash. Since in all probability soluble chlo- 

 rides consumed with the food on the day immediately preceding the fasting 

 period are rapidly excreted and thereby appear in large measure on the first 

 days of the fast, it is of interest to note the proportion of total ash which is 

 represented by the chlorides. While Munk has shown (7) that the chlorine in 

 the urine is to a certain extent combined with bases other than sodium, the 

 amount of chloride other than sodium chloride is relatively small and for pur- 

 poses of comparison we may assume that all the chlorine that is excreted is 

 combined with sodium. The amounts of sodium chloride calculated as ex- 

 creted in the urine are recorded in table 217, and in this table the proportion of 

 the total ash represented by sodium chloride is likewise recorded. 



The largest excretion of sodium chloride is commonly found on the days 

 when there was the largest excretion of ash. Thus, on the first day of experi- 

 ment No. 80 when there were 18.93 grams of total ash, it is computed that, 

 there were 14.69 grams of sodium chloride. Similarly on the first days of 

 experiments Nos. 85 and 89, the large amounts of total ash are accompanied 

 by large amounts of sodium chloride. The lowest percentages observed in the 

 first two days of fasting are those found in experiment No. 83. 



Ash other than sodium chloride. The very considerable fluctuations in the 

 amounts of sodium chloride excreted in the urine from day to day make a 

 comparison of the ash other than sodium chloride on different days of interest, 



