248 DIGESTION. 



the effects were also the same with butter. Tiedemann 

 and Gmelin obtained very similar results. They fed 

 different geese, one with sugar and water, another with 

 gum and water, and a third with starch and water. All 

 gradually lost weight. The one fed with gum died on the 

 sixteenth day ; that fed with sugar, on the twenty-second ; 

 the third, which was fed with starch, on the twenty-fourth ; 

 and another on the twent} 7 -seventh day; having lost, 

 during these periods, from one-sixth to one-half of their 

 weight. The experiments of Chossat and Letellier prove 

 the same ; and in men, the same is shown by the various 

 diseases to which they who consume but little nitrogenous 

 food are liable, and especially, as Dr. Budd has shown, 

 by the affection of the cornea which is observed in Hindus 

 feeding almost exclusively on rice. But it is not only the 

 non-nitrogenous substances, which, taken alone, are in- 

 sufficient for the maintenance of health. The experiments 

 of the Academies of France and Amsterdam were equally 

 conclusive that gelatin alone soon ceases to be nu- 

 tritive. 



Mr. Savory's observations on food confirm and extend 

 the results obtained by Magendie, Chossat, and others. 

 They show that animals fed exclusively on non-nitrogenous 

 diet speedily emaciate and die, as if from starvation ; that 

 a much larger amount of urine is voided by those fed with 

 nitrogenous than by those with non-nitrogenous food ; and 

 that animal heat is maintained as well by the former as 

 by the latter a fact which proves that nitrogenous elements 

 of food, as well as non-nitrogenous may be regarded as 

 calorifacient. ,The non-nitrogenous principles, however, 

 he believes to be calorifacient essentially, not being first 

 converted into tissue ; but of the nitrogenous, he believes 

 that only a part is thus directly calorifacient, the rest 

 being employed in the formation of tissue. Contrary to 

 the views of Liebig and Lehmann, Savory has shown that, 

 while animals speedily die when confined to non-nitro- 



