94 INANITION AND MALNUTRITION 



and senile appearance. The loss in body weight often exceeded 30 per cent. 

 The trunk became bent and shortened, with a decrease in stature of 3.8-6.6 

 cm. in the males and 3.6-4.8 cm. in the females. There was apparently both 

 absolute and relative decrease in the size of the head, also a tendency to increased 

 dolichocephaly and minor changes in nasal measurements. The thoracic cir- 

 cumference was markedly decreased; but the extremities appeared elongated, 

 in relation to stature. 



Recovery from Inanition. — It is well known that recovery from inanition is 

 generally possible, if adequate nutriment is provided before the extreme stage 

 is reached. After a certain point, varying according to species, individual, 

 type of inanition. and environmental conditions, recovery becomes impossible 

 and death is inevitable. The process of recovery upon proper refeeding after 

 inanition will be considered briefly, first among vertebrates in general and second 

 in man. 



As examples of the extreme extent of inanition from which recuperation is 

 possible, Kahan ('85, '86, '04) obtained recovery after loss of 30-45 per cent 

 in the body weight of adult pigeons; and after loss of 50 per cent in a hen and 

 30.9 per cent in rabbits. In the dog, Laborde ('86) noted recovery after loss 

 of 48 per cent in body weight; and Howe, Mattill and Hawk ('09) after a loss 

 of 63 per cent in a fast (water only) of 117 days. Liberge reports the 

 recovery of a cow after total inanition for 40 days (weights not stated). 

 Kammerer ('12) found that in advanced stages of fasting, Proteus refuses food 

 and is therefore incapable of recovery, though remaining alive for a long period. 



The recovery after repeated periods of alternating inanition and refeeding 

 has also been studied. Kahan ('85, '86) noted that adult pigeons upon refeed- 

 ing after repeated inanition acquired a body weight greater than the initial 

 weight; and the same tendency was observed in rabbits ('86a). Similar results 

 were obtained by v. Seeland ('87) in pigeons and chicks; and by Noe ('00) in 

 guinea pigs and rabbits, but not in rats. Thus intermittent fasting in adult 

 animals may result in increased body weight. Morgulis ('13) found that in 

 salamanders a single protracted fast is less injurious than intermittent fasting. 



Rowntree ('22) states that one of Poletaeff's dogs survived 22 days (total 

 inanition) with 47 per cent loss in body weight. In a subsequent starvation it 

 succumbed only after a loss of 60 per cent. The necropsy showed some fat 

 still present. A rabbit survived 8 days of total inanition, with loss of 32 per 

 cent in body weight. After 7 days, it was again starved and died on the 10th 

 day, with loss of 40 per cent. 



The effects of inanition upon the subsequent growth in young animals have 

 also been frequently studied. In the first place numerous investigators (Minot 

 '91 and Lepine '75a in guinea pig; Hatai '07, Ferry '13, Stewart '16, Jackson 

 and Stewart '18, '19, '20, in the albino rat; Robertson '15 in mice; Springer '09 

 and Morgulis 'n, in the salamander) have found unusually rapid growth upon 

 refeeding after inanition, so that (unless the inanition is prolonged) the organism 

 tends to recover the body weight normal for its age. According to Tobler and 

 Bessau ('14), the abnormally rapid growth following retardation is probably 

 due to the fact that cell-division has proceeded meanwhile, making conditions 



