Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume I.djvu/60

40 ABSTINENCE tering, and at length all exertion is impossible ; the breath is offensive; the skin is covered with a dirty-looking secretion and exhales a putrid odor. Maniacal delirium often super- venes, and death is sometimes preceded by con- vulsions. When persons are immured by the falling in of a mine, quarry, &c., they seem subdued by the darkness ; but in cases of star- vation after shipwreck, or in travelling through an uncultivated country, the worst passions are aroused, and suspicion and ferocity add to the torments of hunger. A high temperature seems to aggravate these passions. "It is im- possible to imagine," says M. Savigny, in speak- ing of the wreck of the Medusa, " to what a degree the circulation is quickened under ex- posure to the burning sun of the equator. The pain of my head was intolerable ; I could scarcely master the impetuosity of my move- ment ; to use a well-known phrase, the blood boiled in my veins ; all my companions suffered from the same excitement ; " and the terrible scenes of blood and crime which passed upon the raft were doubtless owing largely to this cause. On examination after death the bodies of those dying of starvation are found to be almost bloodless, except the brain which con- tains its usual quantity, and completely desti- tute of fat. The various organs, with the ex- ception of the brain, are all reduced in bulk, and the coats of the intestinal canal especially are rendered thinner. M. Chossat (Recherches experimentales sur Vinanitiori) deprived a num- ber of animals (birds and small mammals) of all sustenance, and carefully observed the phe- nomena that followed, and his experiments throw much light upon the subject of starva- tion. The temperature in all the animals was maintained at nearly the normal standard until the last day of life, when it began rapidly to fall. The animals, previously restless, now became quiet, as if stupefied; they fell over on their side, unable to stand ; the breathing became slower and slower, the pupils dilated, the insensibility grew more profound, and death took place either quietly or attended with con- vulsions. If, when these phenomena were fully developed, external warmth was applied, the animals revived, their muscular force returned, they moved or flew about the room, and took greedily the food that was presented to them. If now they were again left to themselves, they speedily perished ; but if the external tem- perature was maintained until the food taken was digested (and from the feeble condition of their digestive organs this often took many hours), they recovered. The immediate cause of death seemed to be cold rather than starvation. The average loss of weight in the animals experimented upon was 40 per cent., varying considerably in different cases, the variation depending chiefly on the relative amount of fat. Weighing the different tissues separately, and arranging them hi two parallel columns, according as they lost more or less than 40 per cent., gave the following results : Parts losing more than Parts losing less than 40 per cent. 40 per cent. Fat 98-8 Muscular coat of stomach 89-T Blood 75 Pharynx and oesophagus. 84-2 Spleen 71-4 Skin 888 Pancreas 641 Kidneys 81-9 Liver 62 Respiratory organs 22-2 Heart 44-8 Bones 16'7 Intestines 42-4 Eyes 10 Muscles of voluntary mo- Nervous system 1-9 tton 42-8 Among the most noteworthy phenomena caused by starvation are the offensive effluvia exhaled from the sufferers, the fetor of their discharges, and the rapidity with which the body passes into a state of putrescence. Such a condition of things is peculiarly favorable to the reception of fever and other contagious diseases, and they acquire in such cases an intensity and virulence rarely seen under other circumstances. Thus, as was fearfully seen in Ireland in 1847, pestilence follows in the train of famine. The effects of the prolonged em- ployment of an insuificient diet alone are rarely seen; they are commonly complicated with those of unwholesome air and over-exertion. Of such complication, prisons, work-houses, and charitable institutions have afforded abun- dant examples on a large scale. One of the most noted of these occurred at the Milbank penitentiary, near London, in 1823. The prison is situated on marshy ground, which is below the level of the adjacent river, but it had pre- viously been reputed healthy. A few months before the outbreak of the epidemic, the amount of dry nutriment allowed each prisoner daily had been reduced from between 31 and 33 oz. to 21 oz., and animal food was almost wholly withheld. The prisoners were at the same time subjected to a low temperature, and to considerable muscular exertion. In a short time they became paler, weaker, and thinner ; subsequently, scurvy, diarrhoea, and dysentery made their appearance, and finally low fevers, or headache, vertigo, convulsions, maniacal delirium, and apoplexy. The smallest loss of blood caused fainting. Of 860 prisoners, 437, or 52 per cent., were attacked. Those who had been longest confined suffered in the greatest proportion. The prisoners who were employed in the kitchen, who had an addition of 8 oz. of bread to their daily allowance, were not af- fected. Another well-marked epidemic, owing to a similar cause, occurred in the establish- ment for the destitute children of New York, at what was termed the Long Island farms, in the winter of 1839-'40. The diet of the chil- dren consisted of bread of an inferior quality, with tea sweetened with molasses, night and morning, and soup made from coarse beef, alternately with the beef itself at noon ; in ad- dition the dormitories of the children were crowded and ill ventilated, and they had scarce- ly any outdoor exercise. "About the middle of December, 1839," says Dr. Morrell, the at- tending physician of the asylum (New York "Journal of Medicine and Surgery," vol. iii.), "evidences of a constitutional change in many of the children were apparent ; they were dull