SALT AND WATER IN LIFE AND GROWTH 125 



But many cases of starvation do not exhibit this swelling. 

 Obviously in starvation, the solid building material is like- 

 wise wasted, and the functioning of all vital organs is greatly 

 impaired. The heart soon fails, since it needs a continuous 

 supply of nourishment, more so than any other organ. In 

 most cases of starvation the heart begins to fail before the 

 blood proteins run low, and becomes too feeble to exert 

 enough pressure to press any liquid out through the walls 

 of the capillaries. In such cases the victims of starvation 

 will die before the swelling develops. Hunger edema can 

 develop only if the blood proteins begin to disappear when 

 the heart still beats strong enough to exert a blood pressure 

 sufficient to drive liquid through the capillary walls. It is 

 thus shown that the swelling or shrinking of our body in 

 starvation can be reasonably explained. 



Blood proteins are low, not only in starvation, but also 

 in those diseases of the kidney in which the proteins pass 

 through the kidneys instead of being retained in the blood. 

 Food intake cannot always make up for such losses and 

 swelling appears, first in certain loose parts of the body, for 

 instance the spaces below the eyes, where the skin easily 

 gives way. Here is a condition which shows how an under- 

 standing of the disease points to a cure. More proteins 

 must be eaten by the patient who uses proteins rapidly. As 

 is well known, milk, meat and eggs are the foods that supply 

 proteins most abundantly. It has been possible to improve 

 some such cases by a richer diet. 



However, some patients may have digestive trouble which 

 handicaps their increased food intake. Can such sufferers 

 be helped? Why not inject proteins directly into the veins 

 of the patient? Proteins such as milk or egg-white are 

 immediately fatal to the human body if injected into the 

 veins. There is, though, the possibility of injecting into 

 the veins certain other slimy materials which do not pene- 

 trate through the walls of the capillaries, such as acacia, a 



