SENSATION OF HUNGER 507 



bearing products which are principally retained within the 

 body. Possibly we have here instances of the much debated 

 formation of carbohydrate from fat. This retention of 

 oxygen explains the very odd feature of occasional accession 

 of weight by the fasting hibernating animals. When the 

 animal wakes up the respiratory quotient rapidly rises to 

 about 1.0, corresponding to the combustion of carbohy- 

 drates. 61 



Rhine salmon; Batrachian Larvce. Other extremely in- 

 structive experiments in the field of the physiology of inani- 

 tion provided by nature are met in the Ehine salmon and ba- 

 trachian larvae. It is known that the male salmon, when 

 ascending the Ehine from the sea, fasts for many months and 

 develops the sexual organs at the expense of the wasting 

 musculature. It is also known that, for example, the larva 

 of the obstetrical toad absorbs its tail in the course of weeks 

 of fasting, while the legs are growing out from the rump. It 

 is, however, impossible to go into further detail in connection 

 with these remarkable subjects. 



Sensation of Hunger. A few words more in conclusion in 

 reference to the sensation of hunger. This is apparently 

 conducted along the vagus paths. Cocainization of the vagi 

 in the neck, and so, too, of the pharyngo-oesophageal mucous 

 membrane, is said to seemingly remove in dogs the sensa- 

 tions of hunger and thirst. 62 According to Cannon, who has 

 graphically registered the gastric movements in man by 

 means of a balloon inserted into the stomach, the feeling of 

 hunger is excited by contractions of the gastro-intestinal 

 canal. 63 So much for the subject of inanition. 



"Literature upon Exchange in Hibernation: O. Polimanti, Bull, accad. 

 med. Roma, SO, 227, 1904; A. Lowy, Handb. d. Biochem., 4', 177-178, 1908; 

 F. Reach (Durig's Lab., Vienna), Biochem. Zeitschr., 26, 391, 1910; E. Wein- 

 land and M. Riehl (Physiol. Instit., Munich), Zeistchr. f. Biol., 49, 37, 1907. 



62 A. Valenti (Pavia), Arch, di farm., 8, H. 6, cited in Centralbl. f. d. 

 ges. Biol., 10, No. 326, 1910. 



68 W. B. Cannon and A. L. Washburn (Harvard Medical School), Amer. 

 Jour, of Physiol., 29, 441, 1912. 



