INFLUENCE OF INANITION. 353 



regularly (about 0'2 of a gramme in the 24 hours till the thirteenth 

 day) ; this decrease is finally more rapid (about 2 grammes) till 

 the close of the period of inanition. The quantity of inspired 

 oxygen which is not expended in the formation of carbonic acid 

 decreases at first very rapidly, but afterwards with tolerable 

 regularity. At the commencement* of the experiment 80g were 

 expended in the formation of carbonic acid (on the second day 

 77'4J), and at the close of the experiment only 73'0g. The 

 quantity of daily excreted carbonic acid decreases with tolerably 

 uniform rapidity during the first six days, but the diminution is 

 much more gradual during the succeeding six days, and again 

 more rapid during the remaining six days. If, however, we com- 

 pare the daily excreted carbonic acid with the daily waste of 

 tissue, as calculated by Schmidt, we obtain the following striking 

 relation : at first the quantity of the excreted carbonic acid scarcely 

 amounted to double the quantity of wasted tissue, in the middle of 

 the experiment it was 2^ times as great, and at the close of the 

 experiment it was even triple the amount. This waste of tissue 

 yields, therefore, a relatively much smaller quantity of carbonic 

 acid at the beginning than towards the middle of the period of 

 inanition, but the largest quantity towards the close of the experi- 

 ment. As we may already calculate from the composition of the 

 fat and from that of the nitrogenous constituents of the body 

 (after deducting the carbon accompanying the nitrogen into the 

 urine and feeces), that the former supplies the respiratory process 

 with 78' 1 of carbon, while the albuminates yield only about 

 46'1-g-, it will be readily seen that we may easily compute", from 

 the amounts of carbonic acid and nitrogen which are excreted, 

 what are the relative quantities of fat and of albuminates, together 

 with gelatigenous matter, which are daily submitted to metamor- 

 phosis. The relation between the quantities of excreted carbonic 

 acid and the loss or waste of tissue, may therefore indicate what 

 proportions of fat and albuminates are consumed during inanition ; 

 this is a subject, however, to which we shall presently have occa- 

 sion to revert. 



The quantity of aqueous vapour which is daily exhaled de- 

 creases during inanition with tolerable slowness and regularity, 

 but this decrease is somewhat more rapid at the beginning and 

 end of the experiment. 



In the second series of experiments (the subject of which was 

 a full-grown male cat, into whose stomach a large quantity of 

 water had been injected), the ratio of the absorbed oxygen to that 



VOL. III. 2 A 



