Lehmann, Mueller, Munk, Senator, And Zuntz, 1887-1893

The first use of the Zuntz-Geppert respiration apparatus for studying the metabolism of man was in the series of observations made on the fasting subjects, Cetti and Breithaupt.3 The study made with Cetti in March, 1887, was reported in brief by Senator and his collaborators.4 This consisted of a fasting period of 10 days, followed by 3 days with food. The increment due to the ingestion of food was clearly shown, the authors remarking that the first meal increased the size of the combustion as a result of the stimulation to the work of digestion. One year later a second study of the metabolism during fasting was made with Breit-haupt, and an extended report of the fasting experiments with both subjects was published cooperatively by Lehmann, Mueller, Munk, Senator, and Zuntz.1 In their general consideration of the experiments on food they state:

1Henrijean, Bulletin l'Acad. Roy. de Belgique, 1883, ser. 3, 5, p. 113.

2Jolyet, Bergonie, and Sigalas, Compt. rend., 1887, 105, pp. 380 and 675.

3Although the essentials of the Zuntz-Geppert apparatus were described by Zuntz and his associates (Lehmann, Mueller, Munk, Senator, and Zuntz., Arch. f. path. Anat. u. Physiol., 1893, 131, Supp., p. 1), the best description of the apparatus was that given later by Magnus-Levy, Arch. f. d. ges. Physiol., 1894, 55, p. 1.

4Senator, Berl. klin. Wochenschr., 1887, Nr. 16, p. 290; Nr. 24, p. 425; see especially report by Zuntz and Lehmann, p. 428.

"Im Beginn der Wiederernahrung nach langerem Hungern wachst der Stoffwechsel in Folge der Verdauungsarbeit. Nachdem diese beendet, etwa 12 Stunden nach der letzten Mahlzeit beobachtet man niedrigere Sauerstoff-zahlen als im Hunger. Der calorische Werth des Umsatzes ist aber eher hoher, weil die Kohlenhydrate bei gleichem Sauerstoffverbrauch mehr Warme entwickeln als Fett und Eiweiss."2

In the study with Breithaupt, in which the results obtained were more comparable than those with Cetti, the average total heat production for the two days of food before the fasting was 1,645 calories per 24 hours. The average of the 6 fasting days was 1,550 calories per 24 hours, the average of the fifth and sixth fasting days being 1,292 calories per 24 hours. In the 2 days with food after fasting the metabolism increased to 1,453 calories. The average heat production for two days with food, even when computed on the basis of per kilogram of body-weight, was slightly above that for the last 2 days of fasting, but not so large as the average for the 6 fasting days. It should be stated, however, that the total amount is computed from observations of relatively short duration.

Sadovyen, 1887-1888

Sadovyen,3 using the Pashutin respiration apparatus in St. Petersburg, made a series of food experiments before and after fasting with one subject, a man 28 years old, with a body-weight of 79 kilograms. Since the method employed was unique and the place of publication obscure, the values are abstracted in table 3. Sadovyen concludes that there is usually a slight decrease in the carbon-dioxide output during fasting and that this decrease is in proportion to the duration of fasting. His data also lead him to believe that there is no great difference between the oxygen absorbed during fasting and after food, although the general decrease in the amount of oxygen absorbed during fasting can be considered as having been established. As is to be expected, the carbon-dioxide excretion was the greatest after carbohydrates, this increase being roughly proportional to the amount of carbohydrate taken. The carbon-dioxide figures, therefore, show very sharply the increment due to food, but the oxygen values appear to be practically unaffected by this factor.

1Lehmann, Mueller, Munk, Senator, and Zuntz, Arch. f. path. Anat. u. Physiol., 1893, 131, Supp., p. 1. 2Ibid., p. 215. 3Sadovyen, Pub. Russian 8oc. Gen. Hyg., 1887-88, 12.

Table 3. - Respiratory Exchange In Food And Fasting Experiments (Sadovyen)

Hanriot And Richet, 1888

Hanriot and Richet1 published a series of observations upon the metabolism of a man before and after he had taken various foods. The apparatus used by them is in principle much simpler than any thus far devised, but unfortunately, owing to certain technical difficulties, it does not meet modern demands for accuracy. In a series of experiments from March 15 to April 1 with this subject, who weighed 50 kilograms, a mixed diet was given, consisting of bread, potatoes, beef, cheese, butter, sugar, wine, coffee, and water. The day's diet contained 268.9 grams of carbon and 20.2 grams of nitrogen. In a following series of experiments the food, somewhat less abundant, contained 230 grams of carbon. During the experiments the subject was seated and awake, but no particular attention was paid to muscular repose. The average values obtained showed that he consumed 17.5 liters of oxygen per hour fasting and 18.9 liters of oxygen per hour 1 to 5 hours after food had been consumed. The observers note that the maximum activity of the respiratory exchange occurred 3 to 4 hours after a mixed diet.

In the second paper2 Hanriot and Richet give the results of another study of the gaseous metabolism of this man. In a 2-day fast they found that the respiratory exchange did not alter from the seventeenth to the forty-sixth hours - in other words, a base-line was reached.

1Hanriot and Richet, Compt. rend., 1888, 106, p. 419.

2Ibid., p. 496.

Experiments were made with the subject fasting, with 500 grams of roast beef twice per day, with a large amount of potatoes, with glucose, and with fat (lard) and egg yolks. They conclude from this series of experiments that protein and fat modify the respiratory exchange but very little; starchy foods increase the lung ventilation and the absorption of oxygen, and especially the production of carbon dioxide. Their results show that with man during fasting there is a production per kilogram per hour of 0.5 gram of carbon dioxide and an absorption of 0.45 gram of oxygen, and that during digestion the production of carbon dioxide increases to 0.6 gram and the oxygen absorption to 0.50 gram, an increment of approximately 10 per cent.