EFFECTS OF INANITION ON THE BODY AS A WHOLE 



73 



that the rate of loss in body weight in general is greatest in the earlier days, 

 gradually decreasing later. Luciani attempted to devise a formula to 

 represent the course of the decrease in body weight, but without success. 



As shown by the continuous line in Fig. 32, the formula by Mayer ('14) 

 for starving medusae does not fit the present case, as the relative loss in 

 the human body is too great in the earlier stages. The course of the body weight 

 during inanition in man and mammals more nearly resembles a reversed growth 

 curve of the logarithmic type, as found by Morgulis ('23) in curves based on 

 Avrovov's data for the fasting dog. 



Kohlschutter ('87) presented some curves showing loss of body weight in 

 adults with typhoid fever. Although he recognized that these curves are loga- 

 rithmic in form, he rejected the idea that the loss might be due to starvation, 

 since the only data available to him indicated a uniform loss (straight line) 

 during inanition. He attributed the loss in weight during typhoid and tuber- 

 culosis to the increased oxidation of body substance due to the fever. 



Incomplete Inanition. — The types of inanition heretofore considered have 

 been complete, either total or on water alone. With incomplete diets the food 

 given is inadequate in amount, the effect varying with the extent and character 

 of the deficit. Thus Chossat ('43) found that birds on one-third normal rations 

 lived twice as long as those without food, but the total body loss in weight was 

 about the same. Petroff ('83) noted that rabbits on one-fourth of the normal 

 ration (water ad lib.) lived only 36 days, or slightly longer than on water alone. 

 On one-third ration the time was extended to 47 days. Ochotin ('86), however, 

 found that a rabbit on one-fourth normal ration lived only 15 days with loss of 

 48.75 per cent. 



Loss (or Retardation) in Body Weight during Inanition in the Young.— 

 It has already been noted that age is an essential factor, the resistance to inani- 

 tion in general increasing progressively from birth to maturity. Resistance in 

 the young is lessened by the apparently smaller storage of reserve food materials 

 (especially fat). The food requirement is also relatively greater in the young 

 because metabolism is more intense, and the needs for growth as well as for 

 maintenance must be supplied. Thus it is quite possible for a growing organism 

 to starve to death on a diet sufficient to maintain the body without loss of weight. 

 According to the degree of inanition, we may find an actual loss in body weight, 

 maintenance, or merely a retardation in the normal growth rate. 



