188 



]MxiNUAL OF GATTL-E-FEEDIWG. 



Fat eaten per day 



Consumption of flesh in body 



Gain ( 4- ) or loss (— ) of fat 



Grms, 







138 



-99 



Wliile, as we liave already learned, fat does not liinder 

 the protein-consumption in the body but rather tends 

 to increase it, when fed alone, the loss of fat is entirely 

 stopped by a quantity equal to that lost in hunger. That 

 is, an increased supply of fat does not, like an increase of 

 albuminoids, augment the consumption, but takes the place 

 of that before consumed, pound for pound. 



The simplest way of explaining this is by the assump- 

 tion that the fat of the food is more easily oxidi/.ed than 

 that already deposited in the body, and that the former 

 therefore possesses itself of the oxygen of the blood and 

 protects the latter from oxidation. 



A Gain of Pat may accompany a Loss of Flesh. — 

 In another experiment, in which a large quantity (850 

 grammes daily) of fat was fed, the loss of flesh on the 

 second day amounted to 227 granmies, and at the same 

 time 186 grammes of fat were retained in the body. The 

 same fact is shown by the second experiment on p. 172. 



§ 3. Fbbdikg- with Protein Alone. 



Protein can protect the Fat of the Body from Oxi- 

 dation. — The following experiments by Pettenkofer & 

 Voit,f on a dog fed exclusively with meat, were made with 

 the help of the resp ir ation a p paratus : ^^^^ ^^_ 



* Including that formed from protein. 

 t Zeitsclirift f. Biologie, VII., 4s89. 



