EFFECTS ON THE HEART AND BLOOD VESSELS 225 



Heart Weight in Various Conditions of Nutrition (Bean and Baker '19) 



The reduction in heart weight during malnutrition is very evident from this 

 table. 



Sison ('20) found in adults during voluntary fasting a diminished area of 

 cardiac dulness on percussion, which he thought might be due partly to increased 

 resonance of the lungs. 



The observations of Krieger ('20) indicate that the loss in adult heart weight 

 during malnutrition from varied causes averages relatively slightly less than the 

 loss in body weight, as shown in the accompanying table. 



Average Heart Weight in Various Conditions of Emaciation. All Males, Except 



as Indicated in Group I. From Autopsies in the Pathological Institute, Jena. 



In Estimating the Loss in Heart Weight, the Normal Was Assumed to be 0.5 



Per Cent of the (Initial) Body Weight, Which Was Calculated by 



Gartner's Formula from the Body Length (Krieger '20) 



Groups 



Number 



of 



cases 



Body 

 weight, 

 est. loss, 

 per cent 



Average heart weight 



Observed, 

 grams 



Est. loss, 

 per cent 



I. Insane. No chronic organic disease ? 



II. Chronic diarrhea 



III. Malignant growths 



IV. Chronic general infections 



V. Tuberculosis 



VI. Aged. Various conditions 



206.0 



158.0 

 179.7 



221.7 



230.0 

 223.0 



271 .0 



33 o 

 36.5 

 45-° 

 33-2 

 3°-7 

 31-9 

 18.3 

 (29. 6) 1 



1 Making allowance for normal age change; heart assumed to be normally 0.58 per cent of the body 

 weight in the aged. 



Weber ('21) found but slight decrease in the average cardiac weight of adults 

 autopsied at Kiel between the years 1914 and 1919, the average decreasing from 

 295 to 286 g. in the male and from 261 to 257 g. in the female. This is admittedly 

 inconclusive, however, since the corresponding body weights are unavailable. 

 Pearl and Bacon ('22), from a biometric analysis of 5,000 consecutive adult 

 autopsies at the Johns Hopkins Hospital, conclude that in fatal tuberculosis 

 cases there is a decrease in the absolute weight of the heart, which is probably 



