PHOSPHORUS STARVATION: II. 103 



per cent of the nitrogen and 31.5 per cent of the phosphorus given 

 reappeared in the faeces. A 75 per cent absorption of nitrogen cor- 

 responds to the average obtained with a diet morj or less of a vegetable 

 character. 



MeCay, 37 in his metabolism experiments on Bengalis, observed that 23.86 to 

 25.68 per cent of the nitrogen reappeared in the faeces. His subjects were given 

 a very similar diet, principally vegetable in nature. 



In the second part, 32.55 per cent of the nitrogen reappeared in the 

 faeces. If we assume the absorption of nitrogen (and phosphorus) 

 present in the mixed food exclusive of the darac to be the same in this 

 part of the experiment as in the preceding, then it follows that 76.7 per 

 cent of the nitrogen in the darac was excreted and only 23.3 per cent 

 absorbed. According to this calculation also, the conclusion can be 

 drawn that only 25 per cent of the phosphorus from the darac appeared 

 in the urine and 75 per cent in the faeces. 



I intentionally do not use the word "absorbed," because we know that 

 the quantity of phosphorus excreted in the faeces is by no means a 

 measure of the amount not absorbed, for a large proportion of the phos- 

 phorus is absorbed and reexcreted into the faeces, its distribution between 

 faeces and urine depending much more on other factors than on the 

 absorbability of the phosphorus. 



Oeri " in a recent set of experiments has shown that the proportion of calcium 

 in the food is a factor determining the distribution of phosphorus in the excreta, 

 urine or faeces. Patten and Hart also, in their experiments on cows fed with 

 wheat bran, have found that the phosphorus of the wheat bran is excreted almost 

 entirely in the fasces, but at the same time they demonstrated that this constituent 

 in the faeces must previously have been absorbed; it is present in the bran as 

 organic phosphorus, but is transformed into and excreted as inorganic phosphorus. 

 As this process can not be performed by the digestive enzymes alone, it is more 

 than probable that phosphorus in the form of organic compounds such as phytin is 

 absorbed and reexcreted into the fasces. 



The next step in our investigation was to institute a comparative 

 study of a diet lower than the first both in phosphorus and in nitrogen, 

 and further to study the effect of an addition of organic phosphorus in 

 the form of phytin to it. This portion of the experiment was also 

 conducted as a control to metabolism experiments on a beriberi patient, 

 to be described later. For this reason, as well as to learn the effect of a 

 higher intake of protein, an addition of egg albumen was made in one 

 of the experimental periods (VI). Another prisoner, ~No. 17794, was 

 selected for the purpose. This man previously had suffered from a 

 slight panaritium on his foot, but had fully recovered at the time the 

 experiment began. He was strong and muscular, and did not spend 

 approximately the entire time lying in bed, as did the first subject, but 



<" Sci. Mem. Off. Med. San. Dept. India, Calcutta (1908), 34, 1-67. 



