22 PHYSIOLOGY CHAP. 



muscles, a diminished capacity of the intestines, and a general 

 anaemic condition of the nerve-centres. A marmot at the end of 

 its winter sleep presents similar anatomical changes. 



The total consumption of the organism during fasting, whether 

 it be inanition or hibernation, is not equally distributed amongst 

 the various tissues of which it is composed. This is clearly proved 

 by the old experiments carried out upon pigeons by Chossat in 

 1843. Apart from small differences, Voit confirmed in 1866 these 

 results in the case of cats. We will not reproduce the tables of 

 results obtained by these and other experimenters, but will confine 

 ourselves to remarking that the relative consumption is greatest 

 in the adipose tissue (93 per cent) ; great in the spleen, the 

 pancreas, the liver, and the blood (71-62 per cent) ; smaller in 

 the striated and smooth muscles (43-34 per cent) ; still smaller in 

 the excretory organs, such as the skin, the kidneys, and the lungs 

 (32-22 per cent) ; small in the bones (17 per cent), and almost 

 nothing in the nervous system (2 per cent). If, on the other hand, 

 we consider the absolute consumption, i.e. the different shares taken 

 in the total loss of weight by the different organs and tissues, the 

 muscles and the adipose tissue lose by far the most in weight ; 

 next, at a considerable distance, follow the skin, the bones, the 

 liver, the blood, and the intestines ; last of all come the remaining 

 organs, in which the loss of weight in relation to the total weight 

 of the organism is so slight as to be almost negligible. 



Neither the absolute nor the relative loss of weight produced 

 in the tissues by starvation is a measure of the exchange 

 of material which takes place within them. Were this the 

 case, the nervous system would remain almost inert during 

 starvation. Those tissues, then, which waste but little, live at the 

 expense of the other tissues, which suffer more. The nervous 

 system draws its nourishment from the blood, and the blood 

 during fasting derives its nourishment in turn from the tissues 

 which are more drawn upon for liquidation. 



As a general statement it may be asserted that during fasting 

 all the organs and tissues contribute their share towards the 

 maintenance of the organism as a whole ; but the organs which 

 are of paramount importance for the continuation of life remain in 

 a better condition of nutrition and lose relatively little in weight, 

 for they make a greater use of this contribution for the requisite 

 development of energy, and perform their functions at the expense 

 of the other less important organs and tissues. 



Even in the case of elements of one and the same tissue the 

 younger live and multiply by karyokinesis (Bizzozero), while 

 the older ones waste and are absorbed. A remarkable fact was 

 discovered by Miescher (1880) with regard to Ehine salmon. When 

 this fish makes its way from the salt water of the sea into the fresh 

 water of the Rhine, it is in a state of perfect nutrition and its muscles 



