400 GENERAL NUTRITION 



periods in the day when the heat is at its maximum : at eleven A.M. and 

 four P.M. The fall in temperature during the night takes place sleep- 

 ing or waking ; and when sleep is taken during the day, it does not 

 disturb the period of the maximum, which occurs at about four P.M. 

 At eleven in the morning, the body-heat is at one of its periods of 

 maximum ; it gradually diminishes for two or three hours and is raised 

 again to the maximum at about four in the afternoon, when it again 

 undergoes diminution until the next morning. The variations amount 

 to between i and 2.16 Fahr. (0.55 and 1.19 C.). The minimum is 

 always during the night. 



The influence of defective nutrition or of inanition on the heat of the 

 body is very marked. In pigeons the extreme variation in temperature 

 during the day, under normal conditions, was found by Chossat to be 

 1.3 Fahr. (0.7 C.). During the progress of inanition this variation was 

 increased to 5.9 Fahr. (3.25 C.) with a slight diminution in the absolute 

 temperature, and the periods of minimum temperature were unusually 

 prolonged. Immediately preceding death from starvation, the diminu- 

 tion in temperature became very rapid, the rate being 7 to 11 Fahr. 

 (3.85 to 6 C.) per hour. Death usually occurred when the diminution 

 had amounted to about 30 Fahr. (16.5 C.). 



When the surrounding conditions call for the development of an 

 unusual quantity of heat, the diet is modified, both as regards quantity 

 and kind of food ; but when food is taken in sufficient quantity and is 

 of a kind capable of maintaining proper nutrition, its composition does 

 not affect the general temperature. The temperature of the body, in- 

 deed, seems to be uniform in the same climate, even in persons living 

 on entirely different kinds of food. Nevertheless, the conditions of 

 external temperature have a remarkable influence on the diet. It is 

 well known that in the heat of summer, the quantity of meats and fat 

 taken is relatively small, and of the succulent fresh vegetables and fruits, 

 large, as compared with the diet in the winter ; but although the pro- 

 portion of carbohydrates in many fresh vegetables used during a short 

 season of the year is not great, these articles are also deficient in nitroge- 

 nous matters. During the winter the ordinary diet, composed of meat, 

 fat, bread, potatoes etc., contains a large proportion of nitrogenous 

 matters as well as a considerable proportion of carbohydrates ; and in 

 the summer the proportion of both these varieties of food is reduced, 

 the more succulent articles taking their place. This is further illustrated 

 by a comparison of the diet in the torrid or temperate and in the frigid 

 zones. It is stated that the daily ration of the Esquimaux is twelve 

 to fifteen pounds (5.433 to 6.894 kilograms) of meat, about one-third of 

 which is fat. Hayes noted that with a temperature of 60 to 70 



