434 NUTRITION. 



of oxygen, 1*06J of sulphur, and 5'86-g- of mineral substances, we 

 may calculate the amount of muscular tissue which is destroyed 

 during the process of inanition by the amount of nitrogen con- 

 tained in the excretions. Since during the whole process of 

 inanition 30*807 grammes of nitrogen are given off externally, it 

 follows that 200*43 grammes of muscular substance, free from 

 water and fat, must have been consumed during these eighteen 

 days. Since, further, 205*96 grammes of carbon were given off 

 during the whole process, while only 102*24 grammes of this 

 substance were contained in the 200*43 grammes of muscle, the 

 remaining portion of the excreted carbon, amounting to 103 72 

 grammes, must arise from the oxidation of the fat. As fat 

 contains on an average 78*1 32-g of carbon, 132*76 grammes of 

 this substance must have been oxidised. The animal has therefore 

 lost, during the eighteen days' starvation, 200*43 grammes of 

 muscle, and 132*75 grammes of fat ; but the whole loss of weight 

 being, as has been already mentioned, 1264*8 grammes, it follows 

 that, with this loss of muscle and fat, there must have been a 

 separation of 927 62 grammes of water. This amount of water is 

 more considerable than it would have been if it had been merely 

 the water pertaining to the lost muscular tissue which had been 

 excreted ; according to Schmidt, only 204*43 grammes of water 

 pertain to that quantity of muscle ; hence 653*5 grammes were 

 abstracted from the remaining organs, which, moreover, on dis- 

 section, exhibited the appearance of being very poor in water. 



Moreover, according to Schmidt's calculation, 7^*5 parts of 

 carbon are, on an average, given off for every 100 parts of oxygen 

 that are absorbed during inanition. Of every 100 parts of water 

 that were separated, 41*72 parts were given off in the perspiration, 

 and 58*28 parts by the urine and feeces. With every 100 parts of 

 carbonic acid, there were 75*15 grammes of water perspired. 

 Schmidt has, moreover, determined the loss of weight of the 

 muscle and fat for each individual day, from the amount of the 

 excretions, in the same manner as we have calculated the loss 

 which those tissues undergo during the whole process of inanition. 

 It follows from these calculations that the quantity of muscular sub- 

 stance which undergoes decomposition sinks very considerably in 

 the first two days (almost 5 Of), then to the ninth day it remains 

 nearly stationary, from the ninth to the sixteenth day it again sinks 

 very slightly, but on the two last days rapidly and very considerably. 

 On the other hand, the quantity of the fat which is daily oxidised 

 remains nearly the same from the beginning of the inanition to its 



