GROWTH AFTER INANITION FOR VARIOUS PERIODS. 49 



The average daily loss in weight did not increase in the rats 

 on successive periods of severe fasting, involving a loss of 25 

 per cent, of the initial weight. 



The increment of body weight upon refeeding the test rats 

 after each severe fast amounted to only about 16 per cent, of the 

 ingested food (exclusive of water). 



The amount of food required daily for maintenance decreased 

 during the first fifty days of the experiment, but after that time 

 apparently no further diminution occurred. 



The growth in body weight of the rats refed after maintenance 

 for various periods averaged for some time considerably higher 

 than the normal for the (younger) controls of corresponding 

 initial weight. Thus the stunted rats were able to overtake 

 the full-fed controls in body weight before the end of the normal 

 growth period. No effect of the stunting upon the ultimate 

 body weight was noted. 



As to the body proportions, the relative weights of the head, 

 trunk and extremities remain practically normal during the 

 various periods of refeeding. 



Of the systems, the musculature and "remainder" continue 

 practically normal for corresponding body weight during the 

 various periods of refeeding. The integument rapidly increases, 

 and the skeleton decreases, in relative weight, so that both reach 

 approximately the normal proportions within the first two weeks 

 of refeeding after maintenance from three to twelve weeks of age. 



The viscera which are known to lose weight during mainte- 

 nance thymus, spleen, thyroid, lungs and ovaries likewise 

 apparently regain their normal relative weight within two weeks 

 after refeeding. The thymus, and possibly the lungs, spleen, 

 and ovaries, are apparently even above normal (over-compensa- 

 tory growth) at four weeks of refeeding, but all are found prac- 

 tically normal in the rats refed to the adult stage. 



The viscera whose weight remains nearly constant during 

 maintenance brain, heart, kidneys, liver, and epididymi in 

 general present approximately normal proportions during the 

 process of refeeding; although the heart appears slightly above 

 normal and the epididymi somewhat below. 



The viscera whose weight increases during maintenance 



