446 



Mr. W. North. The Influence of 



abstaining from food for tliirty-six hours. Judged bj the results, 

 this seems to bring about the desired effect more rapidly and with 

 greater certainty than increased exercise, and has the advantage of 

 not causing such great systemic disturbance — at least in my own case. 



In the paper above referred to I have stated my belief as the result 

 of experiment in the possibility of storing in the body a certain 

 amount of nitrogen, which, when occasion arises, is discharged again, 

 and I found in these experiments that my mode of life, and particu- 

 larly the amount of food which I had been taking in the previous 

 week, materially influenced the effect produced by the inanition : 

 that is to say, that in the one case, in which I had not been living up 

 to my usual standard of diet for some little time before the fast com- 

 menced, the nitrogen curve began to descend immediately and very 

 rapidly to its minimum ; whereas in the second, in which the reverse 

 condition pertained, that is to say, when for a week before the experi- 

 ment I had been living somewhat more generously than usual, the 

 nitrogen curve descended more slowly, and the general effect of the 

 starvation upon nie was very much less ; I would lay particular stress 

 upon these facts, although beyond the use of the term " store nitro- 

 gen," I have attempted no explanation of them, because they will be 

 found to have a very important bearing upon the results of the experi- 

 ments which form the subject of this paper. 



Having thus, in one way or the other, i.e., either by starvation or 

 increased exercise and regulated diet, prepared myself, I put myself 

 upon the special experimental diet, going about my work, and living 

 just as usual, except that my meal- times and the quantity of food 

 taken daily were regulated with great exactness. 



In the earlier experiments I performed the whole of the analyses 

 myself, and in all I have personally weighed, prepared, and cooked 

 every article of my diet. 



The analyses of food, urine, and faeces, made in 1882 and 1883, 

 were made for me by a skilled assistant, and I may take this oppor- 

 tunity to remark, that with my present mode of experiment, the labour 

 involved is so great as to render it quite impossible for any one to be 

 at the same time the subject of the experiment and the analyst, apart 

 from the fact that for many reasons it is very undesirable. 



Observations on Pulse, Temperature, Respiration, and Body-Weight. 



These were made regularly twice a day, immediately on waking in 

 the morning, and just before going to bed at night. 



The Pulse. — The observations were made in two positions, standing 

 and lying, the difference between the two being, I think, a fair index 

 of the condition of the nervous system. The morning observation 

 was made immediately on waking, and before any movements had 



