INFLUENCE OF FOOD ON THE BLOOD. 321 



old age is poorer in blood-corpuscles and protein bodies, but richer in 

 water and salts. 



The Influence of Food on the Blood. In complete starvation no 

 decrease in the amount of solid blood-constituents is found to take place 

 (PANUM and others). The amount of haemoglobin is increased a little, 

 at least in the early period (SUBBOTIN, OTTO, HERMANN and GROLL, 

 LUCIANI and BUFALINI), and also the number of red blood-corpuscles 

 increases (WORM MULLER, BUNTZEN 1 ), which probably depends partly 

 on the fact that the blood-corpuscles are not so quickly transformed as 

 the serum and partly on a greater concentration due to loss of water. 

 In rabbits and to a less extent in dogs, PO?EL found that complete absti- 

 nence had a tendency to increase the specific gravity of the blood. The 

 amount of fat in the blood may be somewhat increased in starvation 

 because the fat is taken up from the fat deposits and carried to the various 

 organs by the blood (N. SCHULZ, DADDI 2 ) . 



After a rich meal, or after secretion of digestive juices or absorption 

 of nutritive liquids, the relative number of blood-corpuscles may be 

 increased or diminished (BUNTZEN, LEICHTENSTBRN) . The number of 

 white blood -corpuscles may be considerably increased after a diet rich 

 in proteins. After a diet rich in fat the plasma becomes, even after a 

 short time, more or less milky-white, like an emulsion. The composition 

 of the food acts essentially on the amount of haemoglobin in the blood. 

 The blood of herbivora is generally poorer in hemoglobin than that of 

 carnivora, and SUBBOTIN has observed in dogs after a partial feeding 

 with food rich in carbohydrates that the amount of haemoglobin sank 

 from the physiological average of 137.5 p. m. to 103.2-93.7 p. m. TSUBOI 3 

 has also shown in experiments on rabbits and dogs that with an insuf- 

 ficient diet of bread and potatoes, where the body gave up protein and 

 contained relatively considerable carbohydrate, the amount of haemoglobin 

 decreased and the blood became richer in water. According to LEICH- 

 TENSTERN. a gradual increase in the amount of haemoglobin is found to 

 take place in the blood of human beings on enriching the food, and accord- 

 ing to the same investigator the blood of lean persons is generally some- 



22; Leichtenstern, Untersuch. uber den Hamoglobingehalt des Blutes, etc., Leipzig, 

 1878; Otto, Maly's Jahresber., 15 and 17; Abderhalden, Zeitschr. f. physiol. Chem., 

 34; Schwinge, Pfluger's Arch., 73 (literature). See also Fehrsen, Journ. of Physiol., 

 30. 



1 Panum, Virchow's Arch., 29; Subbotin, Zeitschr. f. Biologic, 7; Otto, 1. c.; Worm 

 Muller, Transfusion und Plethora, Christiania, 1875; Buntzen, see Maly's Jahresber., 

 9; Hermann and Groll, Pfluger's Arch., 43; Luciani and Bufalini, Maly's Jahresber., 

 12. 



2 Popel, Arch, des scienc. biol. de St. Pe"tersbourg, 4, 354; Schulz, Pfluger's Arch., 

 65; Daddi, Maly's Jahresber., 30. 



3 Subbotin, 1. c.; Tsuboi, Zeitschr. f. Biologie, 44. 



