n6 



INANITION AND MALNUTRITION 



may cause a disturbance resembling alimentary toxicosis, and recalls the related 

 "dessication fever" and "inanition fever" of the newborn. Utheim ('22) 

 has recently reviewed the evidence that the weight of the body fluctuates accord- 

 ing to its water content; and that the latter is greatly influenced by the diet. 

 The dehydration produced by diarrhea is well known. 



Effects of Exsiccation (Hall '22) 



Species 



Per cent exsiccated of 



Body weight 



Water 

 content 



Time 

 required 



Earthworm (Allobophora chloroticus) 



Leech (Placobdella parasitica) 



Meal worm (Tenebrio molitor) 



Newt (Amby stoma punclatum) 



Frog (Rana pipiens) 



Turtle (Chrysemys marginata) 



Chameleon (Anolis carolinensis) 



Horned toad {Phrynosoma cornutiim) 



Lizard (Sceloporus spinosits) 



Wood mouse (Peromyscus leucopus) 



Meadow mouse {Microtus pennsylvanicus) 

 House mouse (Mus musculus) 



69.6 



70.3 

 52.6 

 47.0 

 41 .0 

 33 -i 

 46.3 

 33-8 

 47.8 



3°- 7 

 32.1 

 24. 2 



83 

 92 



105 



5° 



34 



105 min. 



450 min. 



1 ,084 hrs. 



116 hrs. 



33 hrs. 

 288 hrs. 

 186 hrs. 

 119 hrs. 



86 hrs. 



77 hrs. 



68 hrs. 

 270 hrs. 



Spiegler ('01) found that young puppies are very sensitive to a dietary water 

 deficit, which causes inanition and general retardation in growth. Kudo 

 ('21a) held albino rats one month old at constant body weight for several weeks 

 by a restricted amount of liquid (milk) in a diet otherwise adequate for growth. 

 The rats show a progressive tolerance of thirst, so that less liquid milk is required 

 daily for maintenance as the experiment proceeds. The tail becomes elongated, 

 while the body length remains constant (thus differing from the results of Jack- 

 son and Stewart by underfeeding). 



The results of Kudo's thirst experiments upon the various organ weights 

 (see Tables 9 and 10) resemble somewhat those of underfeeding experiments or 

 total inanition on the same species, though certain differences occur. The 

 general resemblance may be due in part to insufficient food-intake during thirst, 

 which has also been observed by Straub ('99) in dogs, and by Maurel (04, '04a) 

 in guinea pigs. On the whole, we may conclude that with aqueous inanition 

 (dry diet) the length of life and loss in body weight usually do not differ much 

 from those previously noted during total inanition (cf. Table 1). 



Although oxygen is not strictly a food-stuff, the effects of its deficiency are 

 of interest for comparison. J. Loeb ('96) observed that the resistance of develop- 

 ing ova to lack of oxygen varies greatly in different species. Eggs of the fish 

 Ctenolabrus are injured almost immediately when deprived of oxygen, and the 

 segmenting cells tend to fuse into a syncytial mass. The eggs of Fimdulus, 

 on the contrary, are very resistant to lack of oxygen. 



