THE QUANTITATIVE ANALYSIS 



OF DISTURBANCES OF METABOLISM 



IN THE CLINIC 



By W. WEINTRAUD, Wiesbaden 



Contents: Introduction. — Normal metabolism: A. The laws of nutrition; 

 B. The methods for estimating the calory requirement of man; C. The 

 normal energy requirement; D. The albumin minimum; E. The require- 

 ments for storing up albumin. — The food requirement of the side: The 

 degree of oxidation; maintenance diet and albumin requirement; dis- 

 turbances of absorption of food. — Concluding remarhs. 



INTRODUCTION 



During the past decade the scientific researches of internal medicine have 

 been made chiefly in the clinico-chemical laboratory. 



Prepared and developed by physiology, the pathology of metabolism offered 

 a fruitful field for study, hence it was not surprising that numerous young 

 investigators soon found here their sphere of activity. A flood of researches 

 in metabolism was the result. Clinical literature of the latest epoch bears 

 the lasting impress of these workers. Many interesting questions concerning 

 the laws of metabolism can be regarded as decided, chiefly by tlie theoretic 

 conclusions based on these clinical studies, but an eminently practical issue, 

 has also been attained : Based upon these fundamental laws, a rational therapy-, 

 of nutrition has been evolved which affords an extraordinarily fruitful field 

 for professional usefulness. 



It is interesting to recount, in extenso, the valuable discoveries which have- 

 come from the clinico-chemical laboratories, and have brilliantly justified, 

 their raison d'etre. , - 



The problems which arose for solution, as soon as investigation passed 

 beyond the mere examination of urine for albumin and sugar, were manifold. 

 Often they led into the realm of physiology, and thus it happened that many 

 obscure points in the physiology of digestion and metabolism were brilliantly 

 illuminated by the labors of clinicians, and experimental investigation in the 

 clinical laboratory has especially enriched our knowledge of the physiology of 

 metabolism. 



With energy and thoroughness, therefore, researches into the pathology of 

 metabolism were pursued clinically. The wards of the hospitals offered rich 

 material and abundant opportunity for observing the course of metabolic 

 processes under abnormal conditions, and the desire to study physiological 

 questions at the bedside was as much promoted by stimulus from the physio- 

 logic laboratories of Hoppe-Seyler, Ludwig, Voit, Pfliiger, Salkowski, and 

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