628 



GENERAL METABOLISM 



[CH. XLI. 



Inanition or Starvation. 



During starvation the body gradually loses weight ; the tempera- 

 ture, after a preliminary rise, sinks; the functions get weaker by 

 degrees, and ultimately death ensues when the body has lost about 

 50 per cent, of its original weight. Death may be delayed somewhat 

 by artificial warmth, so that the strain on the internal production of 

 heat is not so great. If water is given, life may continue for rather 

 more than a month. The age of the animal influences the time at 

 which death occurs. This statement was originally made by 

 Hippocrates, and has been borne out by the experiments of Martigny 

 and Chossat. Young animals lose weight more quickly, and die 

 after a smaller loss of weight than old ones. 



The following table from Ranke's experiment on himself repre- 

 sents by the balance-sheet method the exchange for a period of 

 twenty-four hours, the same time having elapsed since the last 

 meal. 



The excretion of nitrogen falls quickly at the commencement of 

 starvation, and even on the first day the above table shows us it has 

 sunk to half the normal. This lessening goes on for a few days, 

 after which it remains constant ; about the end of the fourth week it 

 rises again when the fat of the animal has been used up, and the 

 body makes an increased call on the protein constituents of its 

 protoplasm. With the onset of symptoms of approaching death, 

 which is sometimes accompanied by convulsions, the excretion of 

 nitrogen rapidly falls again. The sulphates and phosphates of the 

 urine show much the same series of changes. The discharge of 

 carbonic acid and the intake of oxygen fall continuously over the 

 whole period. 



It is important to note, that wasting does not occur to an equal 

 extent in all the tissues and organs. Those which are most essential 

 to life are fed at the expense of the others ; thus the heart loses little 

 or none, and the central nervous system loses at most 3 per cent, of its 



