LOSS OF WEIGHT DURING STARVATION. 



361 



The following table, from Bidder and Schmidt, shows the amounts of the different excreta in 

 the case of a starved cat : 



The cat lost 1197 grms. in weight before it died, and this amount is apportioned 

 in the following way: 204*43 grms. ( = 17*01 per cent.) loss of albumin; 132*75 

 grms. ( = 11*05 per cent.) loss of fat; 863*82 grms. loss of water ( = 71*91 per 

 cent, of the total body-weight). 



Methods. In order to investigate the condition of inanition it is necessary (1) to weigh the 

 animal daily; (2) to estimate daily all the C and N given off from the body in the feces, urine, 

 and expired air. The N and C, of course, can only be obtained from the decomposition of 

 tissues containing them. 



Amongst the general phenomena of inanition, it is found that strong well-nourished dogs 

 die after 4 weeks, man after 21 to 24 days (6 melancholies who took water died after 41 days) ; 

 small mammals and birds 9 days, and frogs 9 months. Vigorous adults die when they lose T % 

 of their body- weight, but young individuals die much sooner than adults. The symptoms 

 are obvious : The mouth is dry, the walls of the alimentary canal become thin, and the diges- 

 tive secretions cease to be formed ; pulse-beats and respirations are fewer ; urine very acid from 

 the presence of an increased amount of sulphuric and phosphoric acids, whilst the chlorine 

 compounds rapidly diminish and almost disappear. The blood contains less water and the 

 plasma less albumin, the gall-bladder is distended, which indicates a continuous decomposition 

 of blood-corpuscles within the liver. The liver is small and very dark coloured, the muscles 

 are very brittle and dry, so that there is great muscular weakness, and death occurs with the 

 signs of great depression and coma. 



The relations of the metabolism are given in the foregoing table, the diminu- 

 tion in the excretion of urea is much greater than that of C0 2 , which is due 

 to a larger amount of fats than proteids being decomposed. According to 

 the calculation, there is daily a tolerably constant amount of fat used up, 

 while, as starvation continues, the proteids are decomposed in much smaller 

 amounts from day to day, although the drinking of water accelerates their de- 

 composition. 



Loss of Weight of Organs. It is of importance to determine to what ex- 

 tent the individual organs and tissues lose weight ; some undergo simple loss 

 of weight, e.g., the bones, the fat undergoes very considerable and rapid decom- 

 position, while other organs, as the heart, undergo little change, because they 

 seem to be able to nourish themselves from the transformation products of other 

 tissues. 



