ON THE BALANCE OF THE VITAL ECONOMY. 



423 



globin maybe raised to saturation by sufficiently active respiration, this does 

 not lead to any increase in the consumption of the oxygen by the economy 

 (Pfliiger). To augment the consumption of oxygen the growth and multi- 

 plication and functional activities of the cells of the organism must be in- 

 creased. These activities are dependent upon the play of molecular forces 

 in the cells, that is to say, upon the entrance into and exit of nutritive fluids 

 from their interior, and the changes effected by the cells in such fluids and 

 on their own walls. Albumen when abundantly supplied augments these 

 changes. Fats and sugars diminish them, and they fall to a minimum in 

 inanition. Voit has with some success endeavored to establish a distinction 

 between "circulating albumen" and "tissue" or "organ albumen," the for- 

 mer of which supplies the new 7 material required to replace the old in cell 

 formation, and is much more susceptible of the action of oxygen. He esti- 

 mates, indeed, that of the tissue-albumen only 1 per cent, is destroyed, whilst 

 about 70 per cent, of the "circulating albumen" undergoes disintegration. 

 Voit supports his views by a comparison of the amount of albumen de- 

 composed in inanition with that in excessive consumption of meat, in which 

 it may be as much as ten times greater. The following experiment by Pet- 

 tenkofer may be selected as an example of the mode in which the balance 

 of the Ingesta and Egesta is worked out in the apparatus he has constructed 

 for the purpose, and a description of which has already been given (p. 414). 1 

 In considering experiments of this nature it may be accepted as a fact that 

 all the nitrogen of the food is eliminated by the urine and fteces ; the quan- 

 tity discharged by the lungs and skin (0.6 of a grain in 24 hours) being too 

 small to interfere with the results (Parkes). The subject of the experiment 

 was a strong and lively dog, weighing 33 kilogrammes (or 72 Ibs., the kilo- 

 gramme being 2.2 Ibs. avoird.) which Avas found to maintain its weight nearly 

 unaltered when fed with 1500 grammes (23,160 grains, the gramme being 

 15.44 grains) of meat per diem ; whilst thus fed it absorbed from the air 

 477.2 grammes (7367 grains) of oxygen. Analysis of the excreta gave the 



following results : 



Ingesta. 



Meat, . 



Oxygen of air, . 



1500 grammes. 

 477.2 " 



1977.2 



Egesta. 



Urine, 



Faces, 



Carbonic Acid, . 



Water, 



Carbu retted Hydrogen, 



Hydrogen, . . ' . 



1075 grammes. 



40 7^ " 



538.2 " 



354.8 " 



1.6 " 



1.4 " 



2011.7 



Analysis of the Ingesta showed that 



1500 grammes of meat contained 187.8 grammes of Carbon. 

 " " " 15245 " Hydrogen. 



" " " 51.0 " Nitrogen. 



" " " 1089.26 " Oxygen. 



Of the 1089.25 grammes of Oxygen 77 25 were contained in the dry meat and 

 10 12 in the water, and of the 152.45 grammes of Hydrogen 25. 95 were contained in 

 the dry meat and 126.50 in the water. In addition 477.2 of Oxygen were absorbed 

 from the air. The total ingestion of Oxygen was, therefore, 1566.45 grammes. 



Analysis of the Egesta showed 1075 grammes of urine, containing w r ith 152.2 

 of dry residue 107.9 grammes of urea and 16.3 grammes of salts. After 



V. Gorup-Besanez, Lehrbuch der Physiologischen Chemie, 1875, p. 843. 



