100 EFFECTS OF INANITION IN THE PREGNANT ALBINO RAT. 



SIZE OF LITTERS. 



The average number of young per litter observed in my rats starved during 

 pregnancy was 5.9. King (1915) found an average of 7.0 per litter in 1,089 litters. 

 Apparently starvation during the last half of pregnancy has at least no marked 

 effect on the number of young per litter. 



WEIGHT OF FETUS. 



Rudolski (1893) starved rabbits and a dog during pregnancy and found that on 

 one-half to one-third of their normal diet the mothers gave birth to healthy, normal 

 offspring and that at times these litters even exceeded in weight those from mothers 

 on a normal diet. However, upon greater reduction (one-fifth to one-thirtieth) of 

 their normal diet, the mothers gave birth to young many of which were dead-born 

 or died soon after birth. The body dimensions were reduced in size. The off- 

 spring were toothless and gelatinous in structure, showing a poor development of 

 the subcutaneous tissues and a marked reduction in the amount of fat. 



Prochownick (1901), in a report ot 48 cases in which women with contracted 

 pelves were placed on a restricted diet during the last months of pregnancy, found 

 the weight of the newborn to be markedly reduced. The average birth-weight was 

 2,960 and 2,735 grams, respectively, in 24 males and 24 females. Thus, the males 

 were 11 to 14 per cent and the females 14 to 15 per cent below the average weight 

 for that part of Europe (Hamburg). The length, head circumference, and ossi- 

 fication of the cranial bones were not affected. There was, however, a reduction in 

 the amount ot subcutaneous fat. 



Paton (1903), in a series of female guinea-pigs kept upon a ''low diet" during 

 pregnancy, found the average weight of the litters to be 28 per cent below that in 

 mothers kept upon a normal diet. 



Reeb (1905) obtained a marked reduction in the size of the young in rabbits 

 and a dog placed upon a reduced diet during the last half of pregnancy. Although 

 the pregnant rabbits suffered an average loss of but 7.1 per cent in body-weight 

 during inanition, the individual newborn showed a reduction of 20 to 60 per cent in 

 weight as compared with young from the same mothers on a full diet. The dog 

 lost 8.1 per cent during starvation in pregnancy and the individual young showed a 

 loss of 29 per cent as compared with controls from the same dog on a normal diet. 



All the above experiments were carried out by a quantitative reduction in 

 diet. Evvard (1912), however, has shown that undersized young with lessened 

 vigor and vitality result when young pregnant sows (gilts) are fed on corn (maize) 

 alone, in large quantities, but unsupplemented by a diet rich in ash and protein. He 

 attributes this reduction in size and vigor of the offspring chiefly to a lack of calcium 

 salts in a diet of corn alone. Later, Evvard, Dox, and Guernsey (1914) found that 

 normal litters resulted if the corn diet was supplemented by calcium chloride (or 

 calcium carbonate) and blood protein. 



Hart, McCollum, Steenbock, and Humphrey ( 1919) fed a diet of corn, grain, and 

 wheat straw to pregnant heifers. The resulting offspring were weak and often 

 dead-born. However, when a suitable salt mixture was added to the above diet, 



