258 DIGESTION. 



their food and drink as usual ; but in the course of the 

 second week, they began to get thin, although their appe- 

 tite continued good, and they took daily between six and 

 eight ounces of sugar. The emaciation increased during 

 the third week, and they became feeble, and lost their 

 activity and appetite. At the same time an ulcer formed 

 on each cornea, followed by an escape of the humours of 

 the eye : this took place in repeated experiments. The 

 animals still continued to eat three or four ounces of sugar 

 daily ; but became at length so feeble as to be incapable 

 of motion, and died on a day varying from the thirty-first 

 to the thirty-fourth. On dissection, their bodies presented 

 all the appearances produced by death from starvation ; 

 indeed, dogs will live almost the same length of time with- 

 out any food at all. 



When dogs were fed exclusively on gum, results almost 

 similar to the above ensued. When they were kept on 

 olive-oil and water, all the phenomena produced were the 

 same, except that no ulceration of the cornea took place : 

 the effects were also the same with butter. Tiedemann 

 and Grmelin obtained very similar results. They fed 

 different geese, one with sugar and water, another with 

 gum and water, and a third with starch and water. All 

 gradually lost weight. The one fed with gum died on the 

 sixteenth day ; that fed with sugar, on the twenty-second ; 

 the third, which was fed with starch, on the twenty-fourth ; 

 and another on the twenty-seventh day; having lost, 

 during these periods, from one-sixth to one-half of their 

 weight. The experiments of Chossat and Letellier prove 

 the same ; and in men, the same is shown by the various 

 diseases to which they who consume but little nitrogenous 

 food are liable, and especially, as Dr. Budd has shown, 

 by the affection of the cornea which is observed in Hindus 

 feeding almost exclusively on rice. But it is not only the 

 non-nitrogenous substances, which, taken alone, are insuffi- 

 cient for the maintenance of health. The experiments of 



