18 



HAROLD L. HIGGINS 



TABLE 10 

 PERCENTAGE Loss IN WEIGHT OF VARIOUS ORGANS IN STARVATION 



(Table from Brugsch, "Der Hungerstoffwechsel," 1908.) 



has been found that, although the fish lost fifty-five per cent of their muscle 

 tissue, yet the number of muscle fibers is apparently the same (Meischer). 

 Similarly with animals, histological examination of the muscle tissue in 

 fasting shows that the size of the muscle cells is much smaller, although 

 the absolute number of them is apparently unchanged (Morgulis, 1912). 



One may conclude, therefore, that in fasting and undernutrition the 

 muscles are affected by loss of cell protoplasm rather than by actual 

 destruction of the whole cell itself. 



The undernourished man weakens under hard labor; he is not able 

 to do prolonged muscular work, and one finds he tends to avoid it. How- 

 ever, he is able to perform very well feats of strength of short duration, 

 in fact, quite out of proportion to the depletion in his muscle tissue. Thus, 

 with dynamometer tests of the strength of the grip, but little change from 

 normal has been found either in fasting ( Benedict (cT), 1915) or in under- 

 nutrition (Benedict, Miles, Roth, and Smith, 1919). 



Digestive System. For the first few days of a fast, the subjects com- 

 plain of intermittent hunger pains. These pains are doubtless due to the 

 rhythmic contractions of the stomach ; they disappear after three or four 

 days and do not return. 



Ordinarily, during a fast, there are no feces passed voluntarily ; occa- 

 sionally there is a movement on about the twentieth day. Examination of 



