26 EFFECTS OF STARVATION. 



carbonic acid is the chief product ; for, at the tem- 

 perature of the body, the affinity of hydrogen for 

 oxygen far surpasses that of carbon for the same 

 element. 



We know, in fact, that the graminivora expire a 

 volume of carbonic acid equal to that of the oxygen 

 inspired, while the carnivora, the only class of 

 animals whose food contains fat, inspire more oxy- 

 gen than is equal in volume to the carbonic acid 

 expired. Exact experiments have shewn, that in 

 many cases only half the volume of oxygen is ex- 

 pired in the form of carbonic acid. These observa- 

 tions cannot be gainsaid, and are far more convinc- 

 ing than those arbitrary and artificially produced 

 phenomena, sometimes called experiments ; experi- 

 ments which, made as too often they are, without 

 regard to the necessary and natural conditions, pos- 

 sess no value, and may be entirely dispensed with ; 

 especially when, as in the present case, nature 

 affords the opportunity for observation, and when 

 we make a rational use of that opportunity. 



In the progress of starvation, however, it is not 

 only the fat which disappears, but also, by degrees, 

 all such of the solids as are capable of being dis- 

 solved. In the wasted bodies of those who have 

 suffered starvation, the muscles are shrunk and 

 unnaturally soft, and have lost their contractility ; 

 all those parts of the body which were capable of 

 entering into the state of motion have served to 

 protect the remainder of the frame from the 



