PREVIOUS INVESTIGATIONS. 29 



for wholly by the character of the material added during the first 7 days 

 of feeding. Although the body-weight regained its original level, a com- 

 putation of the caloric output of the animal and the character of the 

 food shows that the organized tissue could not have been replaced during 

 this period. 



The values given by Grafe of the metabolism on hunger days during 

 excess feeding in the third period show an average value of 1,030 

 calories. This is not far from that found on the first hunger day, and 

 does not indicate an increase in the basal metabolism during this 

 period. 



In consideration of the strong probabiUty that during the first 7 days 

 with food the dog had not regained the original pre-fasting nutritional 

 state, that the basal value selected by Grafe should have been that at 

 the beginning rather than at the end of the 21 -day hunger period, and 

 that the metabolism in the cellar at 15° C. would be somewhat greater 

 than in the respiration chamber at 22° C., we believe that one of Grafe's 

 most striking series of experiments fails to prove his point. 



Dengler and Mayer, 1906: — Two researches from von Noorden's 

 clinic bear upon the relationship of the storage of nitrogen, increase in 

 body-weight following excessive nitrogen ingestion, and the basal 

 metabolism. Dengler and Mayer,^ using a Zuntz-Geppert apparatus 

 and a subject unfortunately not normal, made a 3-months' experiment 

 with a nitrogen-rich diet. They found that in spite of an increase in 

 body-weight of 13 kg. and a nitrogen storage of 371 grams, the oxy- 

 gen consumption rose very slowly from 222 to 242 c.c. per minute; per 

 kilogram of body-weight there was, if anything, a slight fall. The 

 authors interpret this as signifying that the addition of nitrogen, 

 even in this very large amount, could not have been in the form of 

 active protoplasmic tissue. 



A. Muller, 1911. — Five years later A. Miiller^ from the same clinic 

 reported two researches, likewise with the Zuntz-Geppert apparatus, 

 one with a subject who was perfectly healthy and the other with a 

 greatly emaciated subject. In the first case, in an experimental period 

 of about 2 months, 210 grams of nitrogen were added to the body during 

 a period of surfeit feeding of 28 days. During this time there was an 

 increase of 4 kg. in the body-weight, but the oxygen consumption 

 rose only from 228 to 234 c.c. per minute. There was a slight decrease 

 in the oxygen consumption per kilogram, ranging from 4.2 c.c. in the 

 preliminary period to 4.0 c.c. in the surfeit feeding period. Muller 

 concludes that when a marked storage of nitrogen is produced in a 

 normal man by surfeit feeding with excess of both nitrogen and calo- 

 ries, the increase in the oxygen consumption is practically insignificant. 

 On this point the experiment confirms fully the findings of Dengler and 



1 Dengler and Mayer, Zentralbl. f. d. ges. Physiol, u. Pathol, d. Stoffw., 1906, N. F., 1, p. 228. 



2 A. Muller, Zentralbl. f. d. ges. Physiol, u. Pathol, d. Stoffw., 1911, N. F., 6, p. 617. 



