22 



INANITION AXD MALNUTRITION 



quantity of the same fluid. At the end of eleven days, "They had evidently 

 begun to starve; they were small and thin, and almost half of them had died." 

 In a similar test with P. aurelia, at the end of twenty-one days only 37 specimens 

 out of many hundreds survived, and these were in the extremes of starvation. 

 The numerical data (in microns) for 100 individuals in each group (except the 

 starved P. aurelia) are summarized in the accompanying table. 



Effects of Inanition on Paramecium. (Jennings '0? 



Standard 

 deviation 



Coefficient 

 of variation 



Paramecium caudatum starved n days 



Length. . 

 Breadth. 



149. 360 ±0.736 

 38.o8o±o.3s6 



10.896 ±0.520 



5.288±0.252 



7. 296 ±0.350 

 i3-88i±o.675 



Normal Paramecium aurelia 



Length . . 

 Breadth. 



144.880 + 1.097 

 54. i6o±o.765 



l6.264±o.776 

 11.346 ±0.541 



II.224±0.542 



20.948 ± 1 .042 



Paramecium aurelia starved 21 days 



Length . . 

 Breadth. 



I02.594± 1 . 161 

 23. 892 ±0.644 



lo.467±o.82i io.202±o.8o8 



5.8o4±o.455 24.29i±2.oi4 



Thus during inanition the breadth of Paramecium is decreased more than 

 the length, and is more variable. On refeeding, the variability is increased, 

 since some individuals recover more rapidly than others; but eventually a nor- 

 mal equilibrium is restored. 



Nirenstein ('10) proved that fatty granules are normally abundant in the 

 endoplasm of Paramecium, but that they disappear more or less completely 

 during the earlier days of inanition. Emaciated fasting individuals may be 

 completely deprived of fat without the appearance of vacuoles or other degener- 

 ative phenomena. The characteristic fatty granules reappear within a few 

 hours after refeeding with fatty emulsions, carbohydrates (starch) or even 

 protein (Merck's egg-albumin). The possibility of fat formation from ingested 

 bacteria was excluded. 



The most recent extensive study of Paramecium caudatum during inanition 

 is that by Lipska ('10), a pupil of Yung in Geneva. Lipska claimed that the 

 "hunger cultures" of previous observers do not represent complete inanition. 

 In such cultures, it is impossible to avoid bacterial contamination. Moreover, 

 in the hundreds or thousands of individuals hitherto used in such cultures, many 



