LOSS OF WEIGHT IN STARVATION. 839> 



sionally be lower, 0.65-0.50, as observed in the cases of CETTI and Succi. 

 This can be explained by an elimination of acetone bodies by the urine; 

 a part can be accounted for perhaps by a formation and deposition of 

 glycogen from protein. 



Water passes uninterruptedly from the body in starvation even when 

 none is taken. If the quantity of water in the tissues rich in proteins 

 is considered as 70-80 per cent, and the quantity of proteins in them 

 20 per cent, then for each gram of protein destroyed about 4 grams of 

 water are set free. This liberation of water from the tissues is generally 

 sufficient to supply the loss of water, and starvation is ordinarily not 

 accompanied with thirst. Starving animals, as a rule, do not partake of 

 water. 



The loss of water calculated on the percentage of the total organism must 

 naturally be essentially dependent upon the previous amount of fatty tissue in the 

 body. If we bear these conditions in mind, then, it seems, 'according to BOHT- 

 LiNGK, 1 that, from experiments upon white mice, the animal body is poorer in 

 water during inanition. The body loses more water than is set free by the destruc 

 tion of the tissues. 



The mineral substances leave the body uninterruptedly in starvation 

 until death, and the influence of the destruction of tissues is plainly 

 perceptible by their elimination. Because of the destruction of tissues 

 rich in potassium the proportion between potassium and sodium in the 

 urine changes in starvation, so that, contrary to the normal conditions, 

 the potassium is eliminated in proportionately greater quantities. 



Contrary to the above BOHTLINGK with starving white mice, and KATSUYAMA 2 

 with starving rabbits found a greater excretion of sodium than potassium. 



MUNK observed, in CETTI'S case, an increase in the elimination of 

 phosphoric acid in relation to the TV-elimination, which indicates an. 

 increased decomposition of bone-substance, and this explanation is 

 supported by the fact that a simultaneous increase in the elimination of 

 lime and magnesia occurs. Recently WELLMANN S showed that in rabbits, 

 the increase in the elimination of phosphorus, calcium and magnesium 

 in starvation corresponds to the loss in the bones of these constituents. 



The question as to the participation of the different organs in the loss 

 of weight of the body during starvation is of special interest. In elucida- 

 tion of this point we give the following results of CHOSSAT'S experiments 

 on pigeons, and those of VOIT 4 on a male cat. The results are percentages 

 of weight lost from the original weight of the organ. 



1 Arch, des sciences biol. de St. Pe"tersbourg, 5. 



2 Bohtlingk, 1. c.; Katsviyama, Zeitschr. f. physiol. Chem., 26. 

 3 Mimk, Berl. klin. Wochenschr., 1887; Wellmann, Pfliiger's Arch., 121. 

 4 Cited from Voit in Hermann's Handbuch, 6, Part 1, 96 and 97. 



