122 OF FOOD, AND THE DIGESTIVE PROCESS. 



stomach will almost instantaneously allay this, and procure comfortable rest. 

 Many persons, again, who desire to take active exercise before breakfast, are 

 prevented from doing so by the lassitude and even faintness which it induces, 

 the bodily exercise increasing the demand for food, whilst it draws off the 

 attention from the sensation of hunger. 



77. The conditions of the sense of Thirst appear to be very analogous to 

 those of hunger. This sense is not referred, however, to the stomach, but 

 to the fauces. It is probably even more immediately connected with the state 

 of the general system than that of hunger; for the immediate relief afforded 

 by the introduction of liquid into the stomach is fully accounted for by the 

 instantaneous absorption of the fluid into the veins, which is well known to 

 take place when there is a demand for it. This demand is increased with 

 almost equal rapidity, by an excess in the amount of the fluid excretions ; and 

 it may be satisfied, or at least alleviated, without the introduction of water 

 into the stomach, this having been one of the results observed after the use 

 of saline injections into the veins in cases of Asiatic Cholera, as well as 

 after immersion in a warm bath in cases of extreme dysphagia. Thirst may 

 also be produced, however, by the impression made by peculiar kinds of 

 food or drink upon the walls of the alimentary canal ; thus salted or highly 

 spiced meat, fermented liquors when too little diluted, and other similarly 

 irritating agents excite thirst ; the purpose of which is obviously to cause 

 iugestion of fluid by which they may be diluted. 



78. The results of an entire deficiency of Food, or of its supply in a 

 measure inadequate for the wants of the system, constitute the phenomena 

 of Inanition, or Starvation. These have been experimentally studied by M. 

 Chossat 1 on Birds and Mammals ; and the information thence gained leads 

 us to a better comprehension of what is (unfortunately) too frequently ex- 

 hibited in the Human subject. The following were the general symptoms 

 noted by M. Chossat. The animals usually remain calm during the first 

 half or two-thirds of the period ; but they then become more or less agitated ; 

 and this state continues as long as their temperature remains elevated. On 

 the last day of life, however, whilst the temperature rapidly falls, this rest- 

 lessness ceases, and gives place to a state of stupor. The animal, when set 

 at liberty, sometimes looks round with astonishment, without attempting to 

 fly ; and sometimes closes the eyes, as if in a state of sleep. Gradually the 

 extremities become cold, and the limbs so weak as no longer to be able to 

 sustain the animal in a standing posture ; it falls over on one side, and re- 

 mains in any position in which it may be placed, without attempting to 

 move. The respirations become slower and slower ; the general weakness 

 increases, and the insensibility becomes more profound; the pupil dilates; 

 and life becomes extinct, sometimes in a calm and tranquil manner, some- 

 times after convulsive actions producing opisthotonic rigidity of tin- body. 

 After the first day, in which the fbeces contain the residue of the food pre- 

 viously taken, their amount is very small ; and they seem to consist princi- 

 pally of grass-green biliary matter. Towards the close of life, they contain 

 a much larger quantity of water, even when none has been ingested InMhe 

 animal ; and include much saline matter in addition to the biliary. The 

 average loss of weight in the warm-blooded animals experimented on by M. 

 Chossat, between the commencement of the period of Inanition and its ter- 

 mination by death, was 40 per cent,; but he met with a considerable vari- 

 ation in the extremes, which seemed to depend chiefly on the amount of fat 

 previously accumulated in the body; those animals losing most weight, in 



1 Hccherchcs Kxperimentulcs sur I'lnanitiun, 1'nris, 1S43 Sco also Piuuim, Vir- 

 chow's Archiv, Bund xxix, p. 241 ; and Voit, Zcitschrift f. Biologic', Biind ii, p. 307. 



