PART III 



CONCLUSIONS, TABLES AND 

 BIBLIOGRAPHY 



CHAPTER XXIX 

 CONCLUSIONS 



Having considered the morphological effects of inanition in the various 

 tissues and organs of plants and animals, we may now review briefly some of 

 the more important phases of the subject in conclusion. In part, this review 

 was included in a recent address (Jackson '23). 



When the preceding data concerning the effects of inanition upon living 

 organisms are surveyed and compared, many differences are apparent. The 

 results differ more or less according to the type of inanition, the mode of occur- 

 rence, the extent and degree of inanition, the complications, the species, the 

 age, the sex, and the individual organism concerned. Apparently variable or 

 contradictory results of inanition are usually due to variation in one or more 

 of these factors. 



As to the type of inanition, the results in total inanition naturally vary from 

 those in the different forms of partial inanition. The effects of total inanition 

 are usually quite similar (in the same species) to those where water only is 

 given, however, excepting the longer period of duration in the latter case. The 

 peculiar effects in the various types of partial inanition constitute the charac- 

 teristic syndromes of the corresponding "deficiency diseases," such as pel- 

 lagra, xerophthalmia, rickets and scurvy. Most frequently the various types 

 of total or partial inanition occur not in pure form but intermixed or associated 

 with other diseases. This is a principle of both theoretical and practical 

 importance in medical diagnosis and therapy. 



As to the mode of occurrence, we have learned that the cells of the organism 

 may suffer malnutrition from various extrinsic causes, which prevent the 

 necessary nutriment from reaching the cells, or from intrinsic causes, which 

 interfere with the normal cell metabolism. It is probable that the resulting 

 effects in some cases differ according to the mode of occurrence of the inanition, 

 although but little is known as yet concerning these differences. 



As to the extent and degree of inanition, occasional differences have been 

 noted between complete or acute inanition on the one hand, and incomplete 

 or chronic inanition on the other. Some of the atrophic changes require a 

 longer period of time and hence appear more distinctly during incomplete or 



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