8-iO 



METABOLISM. 



Pigeon (CHOSSVT). Male Cat (Vorr). 



Adipose tissue 93 per cent. 97 per cent. 



Spleen 71 67 



Pancreas 64 17 



Liver 52 54 



Heart 45 3 



Intestine 42 18 



Muscles 42 31 



Testicles - 40 



Skin 33 21 



Kidneys 32 26 



Lungs 22 18 



Bones 17 14 



Nervous system 2 3 



The total quantity of blood, as well as the quantity of solids contained 

 therein, decreases, as PANUM and others 1 have shown, in the same pro- 

 portion as the weight of the body. Concerning the loss of water by 

 different organs authorities disagree, LUKJANOW 2 claiming that the 

 various organs differ from each other in this respect. 



The above-tabulated results cannot serve as a measure of the metabo- 

 lism m the various organs during starvation. For instance, the nervous 

 system -shows only a small loss of weight as compared with the other' 

 organs, but from this it must not be concluded that the exchange of 

 material in this system of organs is least active. The conditions may be 

 quite different; for one organ may derive its nutriment during starva- 

 tion from some other organ and exist at its expense. A positive con- 

 clusion cannot be drawn in regard to the activity of the metabolism in 

 an organ from the loss of weight of that organ in starvation. Death 

 by starvation is not the result of the death of all the organs of the body, 

 but it depends more likety upon the disturbance in the nutrition of a few 

 less vitally important organs (E. VOIT 3 ) . 



In calculating or determining the loss of weight of the organs in 

 starvation the original fat content of the organs must be considered. 

 With the consideration of the fat content of the organs, determined or 

 estimated in a special way before the starvation period and at the end, 

 E. VoiT 4 found the following loss of weight in the supposed fat-free 

 organs in starvation, namely, muscles 41 per cent, viscera 42 per cent, 

 skin 28 per cent, and skeleton 5 per cent. 



The quantity of urine nitrogen sinks in starvation corresponding to 

 the protein catabolism, but to a varying degree in different individuals. 

 The lowest values observed thus far in man was 2.82 grams per diem as 

 found by E. and O. FREUND on the twenty-first day in the faster Succi. 

 Calculated on 1 kilogram of body weight the urine nitrogen, as is to be 



1 Panum, Virchow's Arch., 29; London, Arch. d. scienc. biol. de St. Pe"tersbourg, 4. 



2 Zeitschr. f. physiol. Chem., 13. 



3 Zeitschr. f. Biologic, 41. 



4 Ibid., 46. 



