METABOLISM IN THE STATE OF STARVATION 439 



obtain the necessary 130 grams of proteid a laborer must consume the 

 following amounts of various foods : 



Cheese 388 gms. Beef 614 gins. Rice 2562 gms. 



Lentils 491 Eggs 968 Rye-bread... 2875 " 



Peas .582 Wheat-bread. . 1444 Potatoes 10000 " 



It is quite evident that, in using the last-named substances, the 

 laborer must consume a useless excess of non-nitrogenous food. In 

 order to obtain from his food the necessary 448 grams of carbohydrate 

 (or the equivalent amount of fat) required for his subsistence, such a 

 laborer would have to eat : 



Rice 572 gms. Peas 819 gms. Cheese 2011 gms. 



Wheat-bread. . .625 Eggs 902 Potatoes 2039 " 



Lentils 806 Rye-bread 930 Meat 2261 " 



Thus, particularly with the exclusive use of cheese or meat, the 

 laborer would be compelled to consume enormous quantities, which 

 would be equivalent to a waste of nitrogenous material. 



Finally, attention should be drawn to the fact that not all of the 

 food is digested or absorbed in the digestive tract, but that there is 

 always a certain residue that is unutilized and is voided with the feces. 

 Calculated as dry substance this amounts in percentages: in rice to 4.1, 

 in white bread to 4.5, in meat to 5.2, in eggs to 5.2, in milk to 9, in 

 potatoes to 9.4, in peas to n.8, in beans to 18.3, in black bread to 15. 

 It is more advantageous to administer the amount of food required 

 daily in several portions than to give it at infrequent intervals or all at 

 once ; the distribution of the food over several meals diminishes proteid 

 decomposition. 



For the herbivora a diet suffices containing one part of nitrogenous to eight 

 or nine parts of non-nitrogenous material. 



METABOLISM IN THE STATE OF STARVATION. 



If a warm-blooded animal is deprived of all food, it must, naturally, 

 decompose and utilize the energy stored in its own tissues in order to 

 generate its bodily heat and to perform any mechanical labor demanded 

 of it. Its body- weight, accordingly, steadily decreases till death from 

 starvation occurs, the tissues and organs meanwhile becoming richer in 

 water. 



Method. For an exact investigation of the state of inanition (i) the starving 

 man or animal is weighed daily. (2) All of the carbon and nitrogen in the expired 

 air, the urine and the feces is estimated daily. The nitrogen found can be derived 

 only from the consumed proteids of the body, especially the muscles, and from the 

 same source also a varying amount of carbon, in accordance with the composition 

 of the muscles. The amount of carbon remaining after subtracting this amount 

 is to be attributed to the decomposition of the non-nitrogenous tissues of the 

 body, principally the fat. After the amount of muscle and fat broken down has 

 been thus computed, the subtraction of this amount from the total loss of body- 

 weight will yield the amount of water lost. 



The following example, which deals with a cat starved to death by Bidder 

 and Schmidt, shows the various excretions on the successive days of starvation: 



