328 LECTURE XIV. 



Athanasiu 1 determined the fat content of 124 frogs. He then poisoned 

 a like number of animals with phosphorus, and again estimated the amount 

 of fat in the entire collection. He found no increase in the total quantity 

 of fat. Taylor, 2 in fact, observed an actual decrease. 



Experiments with mice gave the same results, 3 whereas control animals, 

 which were fed in the same manner, showed from 13.8 to 29.3 per cent; 

 those which had been poisoned with phosphorus gave only 4.13 to 7.9 per 

 cent of fat. The organism had, therefore, been deprived of fat. The 

 livers of those mice which had been poisoned with phosphorus showed 

 from 7.4 to 37.4 per cent, while this organ in normal mice gave only 5.1 

 to 11.8 per cent of fat. All of the other tissues had lost fat while the liver 

 had gained. From this it is easy to assume that the increased fat content 

 of the liver must stand in direct relation to the diminution in the fat supply 

 of the remaining tissues. Rosenfeld 4 has proved this to be so by direct 

 experiment. He observed fat, from a deposit in a dog which had been fed 

 with mutton tallow, to migrate directly into the liver, and the composition 

 of this fat was that of the fat deposited in the dog's own tissues. He also 

 showed that fasting dogs and hens after being poisoned with phosphorus 

 gave no indication of any increase of body fat. Their fat deposits had 

 already been drained. Thus, the old idea that albumin is converted into 

 fat after poisoning with phosphorus must be discarded. 



We have already called attention to the fact that the cleavage-products 

 of albumin, such as tyrosine, leucine, glycocoll, etc., appear in the urine 

 after phosphorus poisoning. This circumstance seems to support the old 

 idea that albumin goes over into fat. In fact, a superficial observation 

 could easily lead to that conclusion. Albumin is decomposed, while fat 

 appears in its place. The decomposition of the albumin, however, may 

 take place entirely independently of the fat infiltration. It is clear, on the 

 one hand, that the great derangement in metabolism caused by phos- 

 phorus poisoning also affects the disintegration of the albumins, and 

 causes destruction of albumin; while the observed amounts of amino 

 acids, on the other hand, have no relation to the amount of fat present. 

 Athanasiu could not observe any increased disintegration of albumin, 

 although a noticeable infiltration of fat had taken place in the liver. The 

 fattening of other organs, the muscles, heart, etc., can be explained 

 in the same manner, while the infiltrations of fat due to other harm- 

 ful influences in no case point to a formation of fat from albumin. In 



1 J. Athanasiu. Pfliiger's Arch. 74, 511 (1899). 

 3 Taylor: J. exp. Med. 4, 399 (1899). 



3 F. Kraus and A. Sommer: Hofmeister's Beitr. 2, 86 (1902). 



4 G. Rosenfeld: Verhandl. Kong. in. Med. (1894). Allgem. med. Zent. No. 60 

 (1897); No. 89 (1900). Cf. Fettbildung, Part II. Ergebnisse Physiol. (Asher and 

 Spiro), Bergmann, Wiesbaden 2 (1903), p. 50 et seq. 



