898 METABOLISM. 



basal requirement is the measure of the energy necessary for the per- 

 formance of all the functions necessary to maintain life during rest; and 

 all work above this minimum activity is called productive increase by 

 MAGNUS-LEVY. The basal requirement is almost constant for the same 

 individual and serves as the starting point in the study of the action of 

 different influences such as work, food, diseased conditions, etc., upon 

 metabolism. The extent of this basal requirement, as determined by 

 the gas exchange according to the ZUNTZ-GEPPERT method, and by 

 JOHANSSON l and collaborators amounts in men of 60-70 kilos body 

 weight to about 220-250 cc. oxygen and 160-200 cc. carbon dioxide per 

 minute, which equals 20-24 grams carbon dioxide per hour. JOHANSSON 

 found in forced complete muscular rest 20.7 grams CO2 per hour and 24.8 

 grams C(>2 in the ordinary resting. GIGON 2 found about 23.4 grams 

 C02 and 21 grams oxygen for the basal requirement. According to MAG- 

 NUS-LEVY the total daily metabolism can be calculated for the basal 

 requirement as 1625 calories, or including the rise due to the partaking 

 of food as 1800 calories. According to GIGON the basal requirement 

 consists of 15.22 per cent protein, 15-35.2 per cent carbohydrates and 

 44.5-70 per cent fat. 



The food may be quantitatively insufficient, and the final result of 

 this is absolute inanition. The food may also be qualitatively insufficient 

 or, as we say, inadequate. This occurs when any of the necessary 

 nutritive bodies are absent in the food, while the others occur in sufficient 

 or perhaps even in excessive amounts. 



Lack of Water in the Food. The quantity of water in the organism is 

 greatest during foetal life and then decreases with increasing age. Nat- 

 urally, the quantity differs essentially in different organs. The enamel, 

 with only 2 p. m. water, is the tissue poorest in water, while the teeth 

 contain about 100 p. m. and the fatty tissue 60-120 p. m. water. The 

 bones, with 140-440 p. m., and the cartilage with 540-740 p. m. are 

 somewhat richer in water, while the muscles, blood and glands, with 750 

 to more than 800 p. m., are still richer. The quantity of water is even 

 greater in the animal fluids (see preceding chapter), and the adult body 

 contains in all about 630 p. m. water. 3 It follows from what has been 

 given in Chapter I in regard to the great importance of water for living 

 processes, that if the loss of water is not replaced by fresh supply, the 

 organism must succumb sooner or later. Death occurs indeed sooner 

 f romHack of water than from complete inanition (LANDAUER, NOTHWANG) . 



1 The literature can be found in the works of Magnus-Levy and Loewy. 



2 Johansson, Skand. Arch. f. Physiol., 7, 8, 21, and Nord. Med. Arch. Festband, 

 1897; see also Magnus-Levy; Gigon, Pfliiger's Arch., 140. 



8 See Voit, in Hermann's Handbuch, 6, part 1, 345. 



