STATISTICS OF NUTKITION. 



675 



Thus, in a dog weighing one thousand and twelve grammes and fast- 

 ing for fourteen days there was a daily loss of body weight as follows-: ^ 



1st day of fasting, 



2cl 



3d 



4th 



5th 



6th 



7th 



8th 



9th 

 10th 

 llth 

 12th 

 13th 

 14th 



82 grammes. 

 44 



40 

 32 

 27 

 31 

 25 

 26 

 26 

 22 

 23 

 21 

 19 



From this table it is seen that the loss is far greater on the first day 

 of starvation than on any other, and that after the first day the loss 

 gradually becomes less and less marked. 



It has also been found that age is of marked influence on the degree 

 of loss of body weight in starvation. The younger the animal, the 

 greater the loss. 



It is also noticed that birds can stand a greater relative loss of body- 

 weight from starvation before death occurs than mammals and other 

 warm-blooded animals ; in the latter death only occurs when 40 per cent, 

 of the bod}'" weight has been lost. 



It has been found that if water is freely given, a horse may stand a 

 complete fast for from eight to fifteen days without any serious conse- 

 quences. If this time is, however, passed, even feeding will then be 

 unable to prevent death. 



Herbivora stand starvation worse than carnivora, even although they 

 lose only one-half as much tissue-albumen ; it is stated that death from 

 starvation in the horse does not occur until the twentieth to the thirtieth 

 day, while a dog may live from forty to sixty days without food before 

 death takes place. 



If the body of an animal dead of starvation is examined there will 

 be found the greatest difference in the loss which the different tissues 

 have undergone. Adipose tissue suffers most, muscles and viscera less, 

 and nervous system least of all, and this latter fact is worthy of especial 

 notice, since fat forms a large constituent of the nervous system. The 

 body is greatly emaciated ; all subcutaneous and perivisceral fat has 

 disappeared ; the muscles and other organs are atrophied ; and with the 

 exception of the alimentary canal, in which fluid is generally found, all 

 the tissues are markedly 'dry and free from water. In the stomach the 

 fluid has an acid reaction ; in the intestine there is a slim}' fluid matter 

 which is evidently decomposed bile. 



