840 



METABOLISM. 



Pigeon (CHOSSVT). 



Adipose tissue 93 per cent. 



Spleen 71 



Pancreas 64 



Liver 52 



Heart 45 



Intestine 42 



Muscles 



Testicles 



Skin 



Kidneys 



Lungs' 



Bones 



Nervous system 



42 



33 

 32 

 22 

 17 



9 



Male Cat (Vorr). 

 97 per cent. 

 67 

 17 

 54 



3 

 18 

 31 

 40 

 21 

 26 

 18 

 14 



3 



The total quantity of blood, as well as the quantity of solids contained 

 therein, decreases, as PANUM and others 1 have shown, in the same pro- 

 portion as the weight of the body. Concerning the loss of water by 

 different organs authorities disagree, LuxjANOW 2 claiming that the 

 various organs differ from each other in this respect. 



The above-tabulated results cannot serve as a measure of the metabo- 

 lism in the various organs during starvation. For instance, the nervous 

 system shows only a small loss of weight as compared with the other 

 organs, but from this it must not be concluded that the exchange of 

 material in this system of organs is least active. The conditions may be 

 quite different; for one organ may derive its nutriment during starva- 

 tion from some other organ and exist at its expense. A positive con- 

 clusion cannot be drawn in regard to the activity of the metabolism in 

 an organ from the loss of weight of that organ in starvation. Death 

 by starvation is not the result of the death of all the organs of the body, 

 but it depends more likely upon the disturbance in the nutrition of a few 

 less vitally important organs (E. VOIT 3 ) . 



In calculating or determining the loss of weight of the organs in 

 starvation the original fat content of the organs must be considered. 

 With the consideration of the fat content of the organs, determined or 

 estimated in a special way before the starvation period and at the end, 

 E. VoiT 4 found the following loss of weight in the supposed fat -free 

 organs in starvation, namely, muscles 41 per cent, viscera 42 per cent, 

 skin 28 per cent, and skeleton 5 per cent. 



The quantity of urine nitrogen sinks in starvation corresponding to 

 the protein catabolism, but to a varying degree in different individuals. 

 The lowest values observed thus far in man was 2.82 grams per diem as 

 found by E. and O. FREUND on the twenty-first day in the faster Succi, 

 Calculated on 1 kilogram of body weight the urine nitrogen, as is to be 



1 Panum, Virchow's Arch., 29; London, Arch. d. scienc. biol. de St. Pe"tersbourg, 4. 



2 Zeitschr. f. physiol. Chem., 13. 



3 Zeitschr. f. Biologic, 41. 



4 Ibid., 40. 



