The same were the results where dogs were fed upon gum, and butter; when they were fed with olive oil and water the phenomena were the same, with the exception of ulceration of the cornea.
In Denmark, a diet of bread and water for a month is considered equivalent to the punishment of death. Dr. Stark died in consequence of experiments which he instituted on himself to ascertain the effects of a sugar diet.
Muller has justly observed that these experiments of Magendie have thrown considerable light on the causes and the mode of treatment of the gout and calculous disorders. The subjects of these diseases are generally persons who live well and eat largely of animal food; most urinary calculi, gravelly deposits, the gouty concretions, and the perspiration of gouty persons, contain an abundance of uric acid, a substance in which nitrogen is contained in a large proportion. Thus, by diminishing the proportion of azotical substance in the food, the gout and gravelly deposits may be prevented.
The experiments of Tiedemann and Gmelin have confirmed those of Magendie, whose curious observations on the necessity of varying diet I shall transcribe.
1. A dog fed on white bread, wheat, and water, did not live more than fifty days.
2. Another dog, who was kept on brown soldiers’ bread did not suffer.
3. Rabbits and guineapigs who were fed solely on any one of the following substances—oats, barley, cabbage, and carrots,—died of inanition in fifteen days; but they did not suffer when these substances were given simultaneously or in succession.
4. An ass fed on dry rice, and afterwards on boiled rice, lived only fifteen days; a cock, on the contrary, was fed with boiled rice for several months with no ill consequence.
5. Dogs fed with cheese alone, or hard eggs, lived for a long time; but they became feeble and lost their hair.
6. Rodent animals will live a very long time on muscular substances.