i 4 4 TEXT-BOOK OF PHYSIOLOGY. 



Coincidently with these losses to the body there is also a gradual 

 loss of inorganic salts, and toward the termination of the period a 

 sudden fall in temperature of several degrees centigrade, in conse- 

 quence of the final consumption of all available food, when death 

 ensues, in all probability, from a cessation in the action of the heart. 

 Postmortem Appearances. It has been experimentally determined 

 that animals die when the body- weight has declined to about 40 per 

 cent. Postmortem examination shows that the lpj$s .of -material, 

 though very generally distributed throughout the body, is greatest 

 iri. organs and tissues least essential to life. 



""The results of an analysis of the organs and tissues of a cat after 

 a thirteen-day period of starvation, during which the animal lost 

 1017 grams in weight, are given in the following table, based on data 

 furnished by Voit : 



ACTUAL Loss 

 OF TISSUE. 



Grams. 

 267 

 6 



49 

 i 



429 

 37 



89 

 3 



21 



I 



55 

 o 

 i 



It will be observed from this table that the adipose tissue suffers 

 the greatest loss, the entire amount disappearing with the exception 

 of a small portion in the posterior part of the orbital cavity and 

 around the kidneys. The muscles, though only losing 31 per cent, 

 of their weight, yet furnish 429 grams of presumably proteid material, 

 for nutritive purposes. The heart and nervous system experience 

 but slight loss. 



Mixed Diet. The chemic composition of the tissues, taken in 



connection with their metabolism during starvation, implies that no 



te article of food is sufficient for tissue repair and heat production; 



that all classes of foods in other words, a mixed diet are 



essential to the maintenance of a normal nutrition. Experimental 



investigation has also conclusively established this fact. Moreover, 



e amounts of nitrogen and carbon eliminated daily, and the ratio 



