Montgomery County sentinel. [volume] (Rockville, Md.) 1855-1974, 1932-01-01
Why We Behave
Like Human Beings
b. GEORGE DORSEY. Ph. D. IL. D.
How the Hunger Mechanism
Operates

Operates
LOW does the baby know 1t Is hun
II cry? 1t does know: and If born
Of an undernourished mother, has been
hungry for days and enters the world
grubstruck.
We speak of drives, impulses,
wishes, instincts, retleXes; but living
beings must eat or they die. Hunger
is back of life, the primordial drive In
life. And If life waited for the doc
tors to decide whether hunger Is
physiology or psychology, life would
starve to death.
The fact that an infant enters the
world grubstruck may be the most
momentous single factor in lifetime
of behavior. The way the appetite
back Of that hunger complex becomes
conditioned may be the decisive factor
in shaping that individuals career.
Without hunger and its attendant APP
petite there could be no genetic, Wis
caral, or somatic behavior. Even
psychics are believed to be subject to
hunger
Hunger has led to crime, to suicide,
and to cannibalism; and the fear Of
it, to war. 1t can make US feel faint,
give us dull headaches and gnawing
pangs-though we are not always
certain whether the pangs gnaw In
the head or in the stomach, or whether
it is the mouth that feels hungry. But
we can get so hungry that the sight
of food makes US "siclk," or 'too dog
tired" to eat. But why fast can
make one man cantankerous and fit
another for a spiritual life is as yet a
fair puzzler. What is certain Is that
if the way to mans heart Is
through his stomach, the stomach Is
worth looking into.
1t has been during the last fifteen
years, and more learned of its nature
than in 5000 years wondering about
it. by cutting nerves, inserting bal
looms, and X-ray observations, Can
nGn cleared up much that was obscure.
Carlson let in more light, chiefly by
experimenting on a Czech who feeds
himself through tube In the wall of
his abdomen because an accidental
dose of strong caustic soda closed his
esopla, us years ago.
Tie hunger mechanism is in the
muscular walls of the stomach. The
stomach itself announces that 1t Is
hungry by violent rhythmical contrac-
lions lasting half minute, alternating
with mild normal or tonus rhythms OF
twenty seconds duration. These al
ternating rhythms continue for from
fifteen to twenty minutes. If this call
for food is unanswered, the stomach
gives up and remains quiet for from
one to three hours. Then repeats
the call.
That mechanism and an empty
stomach come with every normal
baby. With one big difference be-
tween baby and adult: the time be-
tween unanswered calls is not hours,
but minutes. The adult has already
built his body and can live on his
fat; the baby has to build its body.
An adults stomach signals hunger
from four to six hours after full
meal; the babys within three hours
rarely more than three and a half or
less than two and One-third hours.
Thus nature answers a question often
pn TO the doctor: when and how
much? AS much as its stomach will
hold and as often as IT cries for more.
Colts. calves, and kittens grow up that
way and seem to do well.
We feel hungry when, and In nor
mil life only when, the empty stomach
begins its hunger cOntracti0ns. The
more violent these contractions, the
full" Mild hunger is sensed less as
pain and more as a general kinesthetic
sensation.
We have no specialized receptOrs
for the many sensations by which we
are aware of our bodily states and emo
tlons. But the entire body within-the-
skin Is sensitive to pressure. Strong
pressure anywhere on the body Is felt
within: hence pressure receptors, or
muscle or kinesthetic sense. There Is
no special recepter for Intestinal
cramps, but we can feel them. There
is no known receptor for hunger
pains, but we never sense them as We
do cramp pains in skeletal muscles.
The empty stomach contracts. Its
contractions are stimuli. The reaction
to such stimuli Is completed with food.
What happens in the meanwhile: what
goes with hunger, what are the aces
sorry phenomena? The animal gets
more excited: beasts, babies. and men.
Suppose the hungry baby is not fed
that the reaction begun with hunger
contraction stimulus Is never com
pleted? Death, of course. Meanwhile
it lives off its own body, suffering
much at first, then less and less. Carl.
son starved himself for FIVE days. He
lost eight pounds. The hunger con.
fractions Increased In Intensity The
sensation of hunger was strong ten
hours after his last meal and cOntin.
ued strong for three days. Food
looked good throughout the five days.
but on the fourth and fifth days he
could forget food. lie felt some
rental depression the last two days.
also loss of physical strength. But
never during the fast was his dscom.
fort so great that It could be called
pain or suffering, nor did II interfere
with his work. Mental recovery from
the fast came with the first meal re-
c0vrry from physical weakness. nfter
the second day. He then felt as II he
had "a months vacation In the noun.
ta!ns." lie Thanks an occasional fast
for healthy HdaIt "may a.ii 10 the
Joy Of livir" r"d = &c 'p"" I OF life"
90 h, q Org \, poryey.)