CHAP, v.] NUTRITION. 469 



plained. It cannot be due, as has been suggested, to the muscles 

 entering into rigor caloris, for the animals frequently succumb 

 before this takes place. A high temperature makes the heart 

 irregular, and finally stops its beat, but probably other tissues are 

 also injuriously affected, so that death cannot be attributed to the 

 stoppage of the heart alone. 



One of the most marked phenomena of starvation is the fall of 

 temperature, which becomes very rapid during the last days of life. 

 Indeed the low temperature of the body is a powerful factor in 

 bringing about death, for life may be much prolonged by wrapping 

 a starving animal in some bad conductor so as to economise the 

 bodily heat. 



