INANITION. 435 



termination. On an average the loss of muscle which an animal 

 experienced in 24 hours was 0*6 11 -g- of its weight at the time, 

 while the corresponding loss of fat was 0*422; and they yielded 

 2' 16 of carbonic acid, 1*6 of (perspired) aqueous vapour, 0*20 

 of urea, 0*008 of sulphuric acid, 0'01] of phosphoric acid, 

 0*029J of inorganic urinary constituents, O'OSOJ of dry faeces (in 

 which was 0*02 of biliary residue), and 2'24 of fluid water 

 separated with the urine and faeces. 



In the second series of experiments Schmidt employed an 

 adult cat, weighing 3047*8 grammes, into whose stomach 150 

 grammes of water were daily injected from the commencement of 

 the process of inanition. The observations were only continued 

 for one week, during which time the animal had lost 438'0 

 grammes in weight, and therefore 62*57 grammes daily. The 

 daily excretion of nitrogen was 0*578, and that of carbon 4*740 

 for 1000 parts (by weight) of the animal; consequently, for 100 

 parts of the bodily substance 0'3835 of a part of muscle, and 0*3613 

 of fat were disintegrated, and together with 1'4670 parts of water 

 were daily removed from the animal through the agency of 1*5749 

 parts of oxygen. It is obvious, from these numerical results, that 

 the metamorphosis which occurs during inanition is considerably 

 diminished by the abundant use of water ; that is to say, that the 

 body, during the process of starvation, experiences far less loss 

 in albuminates and fat when water is freely allowed, than when 

 (as was in part the case in the first set of experiments), there is a 

 deprivation of this fluid. 



Like Chossat, Bidder and Schmidt have attempted to determine 

 the amount of loss of each individual organ during inanition. The 

 body of the animal, which was employed in the first series of 

 experiments, was used for this determination of the different 

 weights. It appeared that, during the eighteen days' inanition, 

 the blood experienced the greatest loss, namely, 93*7-- of its 

 original weight; next in order to the blood was the pancreas, 

 which lost 85*4^; the loss of the adipose tissue with the mesentery 

 was 80'7-g- ; that of the muscles and tendons, 66*9^ ; that of the 

 brain and spinal cord, 37'6; and of the bones, 14*3^: the loss 

 experienced by the kidneys was the least, being only 6'2-J. It is 

 apparent from these determinations that the loss of weight in the 

 body is mainly owing to the destruction of the muscular tissue, 

 the blood, and the fat. 



We must here mention certain experiments of J. Scherer's,* 

 * Yerhandl. d, phys.-med. Ges. z. "Wurzburg. Bd. 3, S. 187-190. 



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