The elements of the science of nutrition / by Graham Lusk.

  • Graham Lusk
Date:
1917
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: The elements of the science of nutrition / by Graham Lusk. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    canal. The non-absorption of the meat powder threw the body on the resources of its own tissue, and this form of starvation, as has been shown, does not constitute water hunger. Rubner1 finds that starving pigeons die of thirst in four to five days, while those allowed only water live twelve days. Water hunger is, therefore, more quickly fatal than starvation when water is allowed. Under the usual conditions of so-called starvation experi- ments water is freely allowed, so that water hunger does not enter as a factor into the following discussion. If water be available, the organism obtains the energy necessary for its continued existence from the destruction of its own store of protein and fat. After a variable length of time the organism succumbs. Exposure to cold greatly hastens the end. What is ordinarily called death from starvation is often really death from exposure. Boldireff2 described rhythmic movements occurring in the empty stomach, and Cannon and Washburn3 have called attention to the intimate association of these contractions with the pangs of hunger. The subject has been studied in detail by Carlson4 in observations upon a boy with a gastric fistula. Twenty-four hours after a meal the stomach exhibited two types of rhythmic movements: (i) relatively feeble, but continuous contractions at the rate of three per minute, and (2) relatively strong contractions of the fundus, the true hunger-pains. The amplitude of these latter contractions shows a close correspondence with the intensity of the sense of hunger simul- taneously registered. During strong contractions the knee-jerk was found to be exaggerated, indicating an increased tonus of the nervous system, and there was a great instability of vasomotor tone. Carlson suggests that this close association of the hunger-pains with the vasomotor center may be the cause of the faintness occurring in starvation. The hunger contractions and, in consequence, the hun- ger pangs are inhibited by: (1) the stimulation of the gustatory nerves through sweet, bitter, salt, and acid substances; (2) chewing any kind of substance, be it well or ill flavored or tasteless; (3) smok- ing; (4) swallowing movements. Water, coffee, tea, beer, wine, and 1 Rubner, M.: E. v. Leyden’s “Handbuch der Ernahrungstherapie,” Leipzig, 1903, P- S3- 2 Boldireff, W. N.: Arch. d. sc. biol., 1905, n, 1. 3 Cannon, W. B., and Washburn, A. L.: Am. J. Physiol., 1911-12, 29, 441. 4 Carlson, A. J.: Ibid,., 1912-13, 31, 151.