METABOLISM IN THE STATE OF STARVATION. 441 



In the case of the fasting virtuoso, Cetti, Zunty and Lehmann found that 

 the consumption of oxygen and the production of carbon dioxid, as calculated 

 for the unit of body- weight, rapidly reach minimal values, below which they did 

 not fall with continued starvation. On the average, the consumption of oxygen 

 from the third to the sixth day of fasting amounted to 4.65 cu. cm. for each kilo- 

 gram of body- weight and for each minute. Absolutely, as regards the individual, 

 the respiratory interchange decreased slowly, but this decrease failed to keep 

 pace with the decrease in the weight of the body. At the beginning of starvation 

 the amount of carbon dioxid diminished more than the consumption of oxygen. 

 The respiratory quotient was 0.67. The urea from the first to the tenth day of 

 starvation decreased from 29 to 20 grams. 



In the case of another faster, Succi, Luciani found that a nitrogenous excretion 

 of 16.23 grams had decreased on the first day of fasting to 13.8 grams, on the 

 seventeenth day to 7.8 grams, on the twenty-second to 4-75 grams, on the twenty- 

 eighth day to 5.6 grams. Also Johannson, Landgren, Sonden and Tigerstedt 

 found that metabolic activity at first declined quickly and to a large degree, later 

 slowly and slightly. 



A consideration of the relative loss of weight of the various organs is also 

 of great interest, as shown by comparison with a similar animal killed without 

 preliminary starvation. It should be stated, however, in this connection, that 

 many organs lose weight proportionately, for example, the bones (and as a result 

 phosphoric acid, calcium, and magnesium increase in the urine), while other parts 

 exhibit a disproportionately marked decomposition, for example the fat. The 

 latter are broken down with especial rapidity and from them other organs are 

 in part nourished during starvation. Finally, certain organs, like the heart and 

 the nerves, suffer slight loss, as they are able to maintain themselves on the de- 

 composition-products of other tissues. In the breaking down of the tissues the 

 nuclei also suffer and certain glands undergo fatty degeneration. 



A starved male cat lost, according to v. Voit: 



Percentage of the Percentage of the 



Amount Originally Total Loss of the 



Present. Body. 



1. Fat 97 26.2 



2. Spleen 66.7 0.6 



3- Liver 53.7 4-8 



4. Testicles 40.0 o.i 



5. Muscles 30.5 42.2 



6. Blood 27.0 3.7 



7. Kidneys 25.9 0.6 



8. Skin 20.6 8.8 



9. Intestines 18.0 2.0 



10. Lungs 17.7 0.3 



n. Pancreas 17.0 o.i 



12. Bones 13.9 5.4 



13. Central nervous system 3.2 o.i 



14. Heart 2.6 0.02 



15. Remainingportions of the body together 36.8 5.0 



The average resistance of the hemoglobin is increased by inanition. 



Allusion should be made also to an important difference between animals that 

 have been liberally fed with meat or fat before the beginning of the period of 

 inanition, and those that have been kept on a barely sufficient diet. Liberally 

 fed animals suffer much greater loss in weight in the early days of starvation than 

 in the later. Furthermore, fat individuals exhibit from the first a greater decom- 

 position of fat in proportion to proteids than thinner individuals. Animals liber- 

 ally fed with proteid continue to decompose much albumin in the early days of 

 fasting. Animals fed with little proteid, on changing to a liberal albuminous diet, 

 likewise continue to decompose only a limited quantity of albumin in the first 

 few days. 



