446 



Mr. S. West and Dr. W. J. Russell. [May 27, 



In all the cases the amount in the urine is in slight excess of that 

 in the food, so that we may fairly regard all the nitrogen here ob- 

 tained as representing tissue waste, for there was no surplus in the 

 food to increase the amount in the urine. 



We obtain as the mean of these three cases = 7 '87, or approxi- 



o 



mately 8 grms., which we therefore are justified in regarding as 

 the minimum amount of nitrogen a healthy adult man excretes per 

 diem. This is equivalent to 17 grms., or 260 grains of urea. 



The weights of the patients could not of course be determined, but 

 the first two weighed it is supposed about 140 lbs., the third about 

 130 lbs., at the time of the observations, which was in each case 

 after the dieting had lasted already three or four weeks, the total 

 durations of the treatment being about ten weeks. 



It is interesting to compare with these observations the results ob- 

 tained by the other methods of the investigation above referred to. 



*I. Hanke repeated upon man the experiments which Bischoff and 

 Voit had conducted upon the dog, and among them are two series of 

 observations which illustrate the subject at present under considera- 

 tion. 



In the first no food at all was given, and the patients were kept at 

 rest. 



In one case 8 grms. of nitrogen were passed, in a second 10, and 

 in a third 8'6. In a fourth case the amount was as low as 6f . And 

 in another series of observations upon himself f Hanke found the amount 

 passed in two starvation days to be 8 and 8*6 grms. 



Nicholson made three estimations in the case of starving prisoners, 

 and found as the mean of three days 8' 6 grins J. 



Many other observers have noticed the rapid fall in the amount of 

 nitrogen excreted during starvation. 



(From 28 grms. to 14. "Moos. Henle Zeitschr.," vii, 291), 



„ 30 „ 14. Schneller, " Schmidt's Jahrbuch," 1856, 10, 

 p. 10. 



33 ,, 14. Brattler, " Beitrag zur Urologie," Miinchen, 

 1856, p. 6.) 



But the short duration of these experiments makes it probable that 

 the minimum was not reached. 



We have then 8 grms. as the mean of the only reliable determi- 

 nation at our command of the nitrogen excreted in the urine during 

 starvation . 



* KoMenstoff und Stickstoff, Auscheidung der ruhenden Menschen, " Archiv f. 

 Anat. u. Phys.," 1862. 



+ " Physiol, der Menschen," Ranke, p. 509. 

 X Brit. Med., Journ., 1870, p. 70. 



