Il8 INANITION AND MALNUTRITION 



The mammary gland undergoes marked atrophy during inanition in the 

 adult female, and retarded development of the gland occurs in the malnourished 

 young. Histologically the atrophy of the adult gland cells is confined to the 

 cytoplasm, with prompt recovery upon adequate refeeding. During total 

 (incomplete) inanition, lactation is persistent, although reduced in amount, with 

 variable changes in the chemical composition of the milk. During partial 

 inanition, the effects vary according to the type of deficiency. 



During partial inanition, the changes in the skin also are variable, according 

 to the type of the deficiency. Protein deficiency occasions marked cutaneous 

 disturbances, as, for example, in the edema so frequently characteristic of famine 

 and similar chronic malnutiitional conditions. In pellagra (primarily due to 

 protein deficiency), the skin lesions are very marked and characteristic, with 

 variable inflammatory changes in the acute stage, and atrophic changes in the 

 chronic stage. Iodin deficiency causes a myxedema, probably secondary to 

 thyroid lesions. During rickets (due to calcium-phosphorus and vitamin defi- 

 ciency), the skin is variably atrophic. In other vitamin deficiences, retarded 

 growth or abnormal structure frequently occurs in the skin and appendages. 

 Cutaneous hemorrhages, and occasionally edema, are found in scurvy. Aque- 

 ous inanition (water deficiency) causes a cutaneous loss of weight somewhat 

 similar to that during total inanition, accompanied by variable structural 

 changes. 



(^4) Effects of Total Inanition, or on Water Alone 



Changes in Weight of the Integument. — If the tela subcutanea is excluded, 

 the loss in the weight of the skin proper, including hair, nails, etc., in adult 

 animals during inanition is usually relatively less than that in the body as a 

 whole. Thus in pigeons with average loss of 40.4 per cent in body weight, 

 Chossat ('43) found a loss of only 33.3 per cent in the skin, not including the 

 feathers (in which there was no loss in weight). Pfeiffer ('87) found but little 

 loss in the weight of the skin in the rabbit, aside from subcutaneous fat. In 

 3 rabbits with loss of 35-41 per cent in body weight, Weiske ('97) noted a loss 

 only 22-25 P er cent m tne s kin. Voit ('94, '05, '05a) in the dog noted a loss of 

 32 per cent in the body and of 20 per cent in the skin. In the fat-free skin, 

 the loss is relatively less than in the fat-free body. Sedlmair ('99) in starved 

 cats found the loss in weight of the skin relatively somewhat less than that of 

 the body. In adult albino rats, Jackson ('15) observed that in acute inanition 

 the body weight lost ^ per cent in weight, the skin 31 per cent; in chronic inani- 

 tion, the body lost 36 per cent, the skin 39 per cent. 



The course of the loss in weight of the skin in the adult guinea pig at succes- 

 sive stages of total inanition was noted by Lazareff ('95). With losses in body 

 weight of 10, 20, 30 and 36 per cent, the corresponding average losses in weight 

 of the skin were 1.97, 8.17, 12.71 and 17.94 per cent. Thus it appears that the 

 loss is relatively slight in the earlier stages, becoming progressively greater but 

 attaining a maximum percentage only half that in the body as a whole. On 

 the other hand, in frogs (Rana pipiens) with progressive loss in body weight up 

 to 5c or 60 per cent, Ott ('24) found relatively a still greater loss in weight of 



