THE RELATION OF DIET TO DISEASE 447 
tone. The symptoms are unsteadiness of gait, stupor, 
coma, air hunger, in aU of which the essential features are 
due to the impoverishment of the body in available bases. 
In infants this frequently follows an excessive fat diet. 
It is also common in starvation due to the deprivation of 
sugar. It is associated with phosphorus poisoning, nar- 
cosis, carcinoma, liver disease, inanition, etc. It has been 
produced experimentally by the administration of acids 
or by foods deprived of their bases. The excess of acid 
in the body whether produced in the body or introduced 
from without must be neutralized in part by the ammonia 
manufactured in the ultimate metabolic transformation 
of the protein and by the alkaline salts of the blood and 
tissues. When alkali is reduced the carbon dioxide accu- 
mulates in the tissues, blocking oxidation. The urine 
immediately shows an increase of ammonium salts, a 
decrease of the urea and an increase in the output of 
sodium, potassium, calcium and magnesium, which last 
two are drawn from the bones. 
Symptoms do not arise until the fixed alkalies are 
exhausted; and they are immediately relieved by the 
administration of alkalies, except in those cases of starva- 
tion where the administration of sugar and the subsequent 
sparing of the fats relieves the situation. In herbivores, 
acidosis does not follow starvation, but, on the other hand, 
it is markedly easier to excite it in herbivores than in 
carnivores whose heavy protein diet produces more 
ammonia, which better enables the animals to protect 
their fixed alkalies. The acid intoxication of infections 
arises from different causes and is dependent on the 
intensity of the type of infection; but ultimately it also 
depends upon the depletion of the fixed alkalies. 
Irkegulaeities of Protein Metabolism. 
Fat and carbohydrate disturbances are not infrequent 
in carnivores, but it is with the protein fraction of the diet 
that most of the trouble is connected. Natural foods 
