418 
The Philippine Journal of Science 
1920 
This is in accord with the results of other fasts. Succi lost 25.6 per cent, 
of his body weight in a forty-day fast. A dog fasting 117 days lost 62.9 
per cent, of the initial weight. He was fed, regained his original weight, 
starved 111 days, and lost 53 per cent, of his weight. Luciani, who con- 
trolled the forty-day fast of Succi in Florence, has assumed that there is 
a mathematical relationship between the loss per day and the length of the 
fast. Benedict, however, has shown that this does not hold for human 
beings. He regards the weight loss as due to two factors: First, tissue is 
oxidized to supply material for a maintenance of body activities. Second, 
there is a loss of preformed water, that is, the water in the oxidized 
tissues. This water is lost more rapidly during the first days of a fast 
because there is greater tissue disintegration. This metabolic activity de- 
creases for the reason that the subject becomes less inclined to do muscular 
work; he conserves his energy. He even clothes himself more heavily in 
order to preserve the body heat. Weight loss during a fast is decreased 
by the drinking of large amounts of water. It has been assumed that 
this water acts as a nutrient and spares the tissues. It is surprising to 
note that the loss of water as insensible perspiration, in Benedict’s subject, 
varied between 371 and 691 gm. per twenty-four hours. In an individual 
on a full diet, this amount is much higher. 
The Berlin investigations on Cetti, a professional faster, describe the 
“irritable heart of fasting .” 4 
The pulse rate is supposedly much increased on even slight exertion. 
Benedict’s work does not confirm this. On the contrary, the amplitude of 
the pulse rate, that is, the difference between the pulse rate at first as 
compared with the rate when active, became less and less as the fast pro- 
gressed. 5 Accompanying this was a progressive decrease in the blood pres- 
sure, a maximum fall of 30 mm. of mercury resulting. There was also an 
actual decrease of 3 cm. in the width of the heart. These findings have 
been reported in other investigations, and are probably due to a decreased 
peripheral resistance. 6 When, at the conclusion of the fast, food is again 
taken, the usual pulse amplitude returns and the blood pressure soon rises 
to normal. From this work it is claimed that the pulse rate may be used 
as a legitimate index to metabolism. 
Numerous changes have been reported as occurring in the blood of fasting 
subjects, among these a marked increase in the number of red cells. Bene- 
dict found chiefly an early rise of polynuclear leukocytes, and an increase 
in the blood acidity. The leukocytosis is apparently of little importance, 
since the leukocytes are the most sensitive of the blood cells, and respond 
to such stimuli as a meal or a cold bath. Their number fell to normal after 
the first few days of the fast. The blood acidity, from a study of the 
alveolar air, was found to increase markedly on the second and again on 
the fourteenth day of the fast, and remained at this high level throughout. 
4 This was never observed in any of my cases ; on the contrary, there was 
sluggishness of the heart action as is shown by the diminution of pulse 
rate per minute during the progress of fasting. — A. G. S. 
5 My results are like those of Benedict on this point. After slight exer- 
tion the ordinary reaction, manifested by a rise in pulse rate, is lacking 
during fasting.— A. G. S. 
0 1 have already mentioned the explanations that I am inclined to give 
for such diminution in cardiac dullness. — A. G. S. 
