ADIPOSE TISSUE. 393 



be referable to that ingested, while the increase in the fat may be 

 in part due to the ingested fat, in part to albumins, and in part to 

 carbohydrates. In such cases it has been found that the amount of 

 both albumins and fat which were contained in the food are by 

 no means sufficient to account for all the accumulated fat, so 

 that the conclusion is unavoidable that a certain proportion of this 

 must be referable to the ingested carbohydrates. Calculation has, 

 indeed, shown that as much as 86.7 per cent, of the fat is of such 

 origin. 



Significance of the Fats. As regards the function of fat in the 

 animal body, our knowledge is still very imperfect. Owing to its 

 property as a poor conductor of heat, it is probably of moment 

 in preventing an undue irradiation. Its principal significance, how- 

 ever, is undoubtedly connected with its manifest value as a food-stuff 

 and as a source of energy. But we do not know whether this is 

 expressed in any specific function of the body beyond the produc- 

 tion of heat in general. As the fat disappears during starvation 

 before the albumins are attacked, we may assume that its presence 

 under normal conditions prevents an undue destruction of those ele- 

 ments which essentially represent the living tissue. In this respect, 

 however, the fats are inferior to the carbohydrates, as is apparent 

 from the fact that in starving animals the administration of fats does 

 not lead to so marked a diminution in the elimination of nitrogen 

 as is effected by a corresponding amount of carbohydrates. Upon 

 this basis also Voit has explained the well-known phenomenon that 

 herbivorous animals are more likely to accumulate albumins than the 

 carnivora, as the latter receive scarcely any carbohydrates in their 

 food, while that of the former contains comparatively large amounts. 



