336 ILLINOIS ACADEMY OF SCIENCE 
lyzed during starvation, is greatly decreased. In view of the 
fact that the catalase content of a muscle is directly propor- 
tional to the amount of oxidation in the muscle and that the 
autolyzing enzymes are destroyed by oxidation, the further 
conclusion is drawn that the heart is not autolyzed during 
starvation because oxidation in this organ remains normally 
intense and thus provides for this oxidation of the autolyzing 
enzymes and the maintenance of the normal balance between 
oxidation and autolysis; on the other hand the fat and skeletal 
muscles are autolyzed during starvation because of the de- 
creased oxidation which leaves the autolytic enzymes free to 
digest these tissues. 
BIBLIOGRAPHY 
1. Burge: This Journal, 1916, XLI, 153. 
2. Burge: This Journal, 1914, XXXIV, 140. 
3. Conradi: Deutsch. med. Wochenschr., 1903, XXIX, 26. 
4. Rettger: Journ. Med. Research, 1904, XIII, 79. 
5. Neuberg: Zeitschr. f. Krebsforschung, 1904, II, 171; Berl. Klin. Woch- 
enschr., 1904, XLI, 1081. 
7. Burge and Burge: Journ. Amer. Med. Assoc., 1916, LXVI, 998. 
8. Burge and Burge: Journ. of Parasitol., 1915, I. 
~~) ae 
