PREVIOUS INVESTIGATIONS. 25 



ciated. It so happens that the most pronounced depression in 

 metabolism occurred with a woman with a height of 162 cm. and 

 a weight of 71 kg., who was in an unusually good state of nutri- 

 tion. Recognizing the difficulties of interpreting this phenomenon, 

 Grafe cautiously states that the experiments simply establish the fact 

 that with mental disease there is a true depression in the metabo- 

 lism. His experiments on subsequent feeding are somewhat less 

 numerous and indicate that while the maximum effect following food 

 may not appear so soon as with normal people, the total increase in 

 oxidation as the result of food ingestion is essentially normal. 



It is quite clear, therefore, from this study of Grafe's, that the basal 

 metabohsm during conditions of mental disturbance accompanied by 

 stupor may be very considerably lowered. The lowered values are so 

 great that they can not be ascribed to errors in the selection of a normal 

 value or to a possible error in the body-surface values as compared with 

 the more recent body-surface standards of Du Bois. As an indication 

 of the possibility of alteration in basal metabolism the investigation has 

 a profound interest. Since the majority of Grafe's patients were not 

 unduly emaciated, it is quite likely that we deal here with a specific 

 result of the mental condition accompanied by stupor and not to a dis- 

 tinctly undernourished condition of the body with lessened cell-mass. 



Grafe and Graham, 1911. — The lengthy observation of Grafe and 

 Graham^ on excess feeding of a 20-kilogram dog has provoked an unu- 

 sual amount of discussion among physiologists, in spite of the fact that 

 relatively little adverse criticism has been printed. Although prima- 

 rily considering the question of overfeeding, the experiments have such 

 a bearing on the possible adjustment of basal metabolism to food intake 

 and have received so much attention from physiologists that we feel 

 justified in discussing them here. Personal acquaintance with Dr. 

 Grafe has led to a thorough investigation of this remarkable research, 

 and it is a source of much regret that the present war conditions do not 

 make it possible, before publication, to communicate with Dr. Grafe 

 regarding our critical examination of his study. Although we are 

 forced to dissent from the main conclusions, we are fully aware of the 

 important place that the research has taken in physiological circles and 

 the stimulus it has been to thought and to research. 



The dog was first starved for 21 days. It was then given presumably 

 excess food (280 per cent of the basal requirement) until the normal 

 weight was regained (a period of 7 days). This was followed by 29 

 days of gross excess feeding (300 per cent of the basal needs), and three 

 subsequent periods of 11, 19, and 10 days, respectively, with a smaller 

 amount of food, but still presumably above the normal requirement 

 (200, 130, and ca. 100 per cent). During the last three periods the dog 

 remained with an essentially constant body-weight. Grafe argues that 



1 Grafe and Graham, Zeitschr. f. physiol. Chem., 1911, 73, p. 1. 



