20 ANALYSIS OF DISTURBANCES OF METABOLISM 



tion. It increases the albumin contents of the body, and also the albumin 

 decomposition. We know that a man called on to perform work beyond the 

 usual amount always prefers a diet rich in albumin (the average albumin 

 metabolism in athletes is about 200 grams of albumin) ^ and this coincides 

 perfectly with the views of Pfliiger that, " increased albumin decomposition is 

 combined with that increased vitality which in the struggle for existence gains 

 the victory." ^ 



More exact and recent investigations in metabolism show that the general 

 tendency of working organs to attract albumin and to retain it for their 

 growth is seen in the highest degree in the muscles. Caspari ^ studied a dog 

 that, with a certain diet, was in N-equilibrium, yet, with precisely the same 

 food, continuous N-accumulation occurred when the dog was daily subjected 

 to considerable muscular exertion. Bornstein * was able to show that the 

 accumulation of albumin attained by him with the addition of a larger 

 amount of albumin to an already sufficient diet could even be increased by 

 daily muscular exercise in moderation (without work about 16 per cent, of 

 what is ingested is accumulated; with moderate labor about 22 per cent.). He 

 therefore speaks of a true labor hypertrophy of the muscles, and the investi- 

 gations in metabolism carried out upon a large scale by Atwater and Bene- 

 dict ^ confirm this view. Without increasing the nitrogenous food of their 

 experimental persons during the period of labor, they produced an accumu- 

 lation in albumin (in contrast to an N-loss in the period of rest), although in 

 the period of labor the additional calories were given wholly in the form of 

 carbohydrates without any additional albumin. 



It is of course obvious that this labor hypertrophy has its limits. Even 

 with continuous muscular work, an increase of albumin in the food, which 

 is also limited by the person's digestive capacity, will not force a continuous 

 accumulation of muscle. A condition of equilibrium is attained in which, 

 however, the body now controls more organic working albumin than formerly, 

 and possesses increased vitality. 



For the treatment of the cases (constantly multiplying in our time) in 

 which diminished capacity for work is one of the most prominent symptoms, 

 these new studies in metabolism contain the most valuable hints. For who 

 will maintain that every patient who comes to us with a body-weight corre- 

 sponding to his age and his size controls an amount of the organic substances 

 used in metabolism which corresponds to his maximum or even to his 

 optimum ? 



With the recognition that we can build flesh by the simple addition of 

 albumin to the food (a point on which Pfliiger's views and Volt's teachings 



1 Lichtenfeldt, " Ueber d. Nilhrstoffbedarf b. Training." Pfliiger's Arch. Bd. Ixxxvi, 

 p. 177. 



2 Pfliiger's Arch. f. d. ges. Physiol, Bd. ]i, p. 319. 



3 Caspari, " Ueber Eiweissumsatz und Ansatz bei Muskelarbeit." PMoer's Arch., 

 Bd. Ixxxiii, p. 6509. 



4 Bornstein, " Eiweissmast und Muskelarbeit,." Pfliiger's Arch., Bd. Ixxxv, iii, p. 540. 



5 Atwater and Benedict, " Experiments on the metabolism of matter and energy 

 in the human body." Washington, 1899. Quoted by Caspari, loc. cit., p. 539 



