THE INFLUENCE OF PROTRACTED AND INTER- 

 MITTENT FASTING UPON GROWTH 



DR. SERGIUS MORGULIS 



In an earlier paper on inanition 1 I pointed out the 

 significance of the period following a prolonged fast in 

 investigating the problem of growth. Prolonged starva- 

 tion — notwithstanding the exhaustion which it produces 

 — seems to exercise a rejuvenating effect upon the as- 

 similative capacity of the organism, which builds itself up 

 again with surprising rapidity as soon as feeding is re- 

 sumed. It was also shown there, that the increase in 

 weight of the animal does not necessarily correspond to 

 the quantity of ingested food, being somewhat greater 

 than the latter, which is due to absorption of water from 

 the surroundings. Whereas inanition causes a relatively 

 greater loss of dry substance than of water, it was found 

 that "the effect of resumed feeding (upon the sala- 

 mander) is to increase the water content more relatively 

 than the dry substance" (p. 213). 



Since those results were published I had an oppor- 

 tunity of collecting more material bearing upon this topic. 

 The experiments were made with the salamander Triton 

 cristatus, and strengthen my former observations on 

 Diemyctylus viridescens. In the subjoined Table A the 

 data as to the weight of nine salamanders with the exact 

 amounts of food taken during 7 to 14 days after starva- 

 tion are summarized. The renewal of feeding after 

 several weeks of privation does not generally proceed 

 smoothly, the animals either taking sick or refusing the 

 food, hence the relapses with the diminution of the body 

 weight which mav be seen occasionally- throughout the 

 table. 



Growth," I, Arch. f. Entw.-Mcch., lid. Wl. 10«)-268, 3 plates, 1911. 

 477 



