EFFECTS OF DEPRIVATION OF FOOD 



421 



The effect of starvation on the temperature of the various animals ex- 

 perimented on by Chossat was very distinct. For some time the variation 

 in the daily temperature was more marked than its absolute and continuous 

 diminution, the daily fluctuation amounting to 3 C. instead of 0.5 to i C., 

 as in health. The temperature fell very rapidly a short time before death, 



<n 



2 



& 

 (D 



<f 



DAYS OF FASTING 



FIG. 310. The Elimination of Urea by Dogs during Fasting. 

 ^^ i Following 2,500 grams of meat in the food. 

 1,500 

 minimal amount of proteid in the food. 



(Voit.) 



and death ensued when the loss had amounted to about 16.2 C. It has been 

 often said, and with truth, that death by starvation is really death from want 

 of heat. The effect of the application of external warmth to animals cold 

 and dying from starvation is more effectual in reviving them than the ad- 

 ministration of food. 



The symptoms produced by starvation in the human subject are hunger, ac- 

 companied, or it may be replaced, by pain, referred to the region of the stomach; 

 insatiable thirst; sleeplessness; general weakness, and emaciation. The ex- 

 halations both from the lungs and from the skin are fetid, indicating the 

 tendency to decomposition which belongs to badly nourished tissues; and death 



