9 6 



INANITION AND MALNUTRITION 



and Stewart ('19, '20) obtained the same result if the inanition of the rats is 

 begun at a very early age or is protracted over a long period. They therefore 

 conclude that "The ultimate effect varies according to the length of the under- 

 feeding period, the age at which the inanition occurred, the sex (body weight 

 more affected in males), the severity and the character of the inanition" (see 

 Figs. 41 and 42). In steers held at maintenance by underfeeding for nearly a 

 year, Moulton, Trowbridge and Haigh ('21) failed to obtain full recovery of 

 the noimal body weight, length, width and circumference, even after 3 years of 

 full refeeding. 



As to recovery of normal proportions, the results of Stewart ('16) and of 

 Jackson and Stewart ('19) indicate that upon refeeding young albino rats after 



18 38 58 Ya 96 118 138 158 178 



— i i i i i r 

 Days of refeeding 



30 40 60 80 100 IK) 140 160 180 £00 HO C4Q ffiO d60 300 3Z0 340 360 380 400 4£0 440 460 460 500 5Z0 



Fig. 42. — Chart showing curves of growth in albino rats amply refed after underfeeding 

 from 3 weeks to 1 year of age. (Jackson and Stewart '20.) The test rats fail to recover fully, 

 remaining permanently stunted. 



underfeeding for various periods, the head, limbs, trunk and tail rapidly regain 

 their normal conditions (Table 7). Even in rats permanently dwarfed by long 

 underfeeding, Jackson and Stewart ('20) found that the parts of the body regain 

 the weights nearly normal for corresponding body weight, although body length 

 and tail length become slightly subnormal relative to body weight (Table 8). 

 In the human species, the available evidence indicates that the process of 

 recovery from inanition is very similar to that in other mammals (cf. Carrington 

 '08). As previously mentioned, numerous voluntary adult fasts of 30 days or 

 more are recorded, with subsequent recovery from loss of 20-25 per cent in body 

 weight. Recovery from still greater losses is not unusual after periods of mal- 

 nutrition due to chronic illness. Durlocq (Fernet '01) noted complete recovery 

 in a hysterical girl, aged 15, who had lost 38 per cent in weight through total 

 inanition. In the Russian famine, Ivanovsky ('23) observed recovery from 

 extreme emaciation. On the other hand, there are definite limits beyond which 

 recovery is impossible, as in the case reported by Meyer ('17), where recovery 



