124 EFFECTS OF INANITION IN THE PREGNANT ALBINO RAT. 



From the foregoing it appears that during inanition the testes have their 

 strongest growth tendency just after birth, and that this tendency rapidly decreases 

 with the age of the rat. The weaker growth tendency before birth is evidenced by 

 the weight of the testes during prenatal inanition, which is only 16 per cent above 

 that of the prenatal controls of the same body-weight, 



Stewart (1918a) gives the weight of the epididymides as 0.001G gram in the 

 newborn rat, body-weight 5.08 grams. Hatai (1918) finds that the weight of the 

 epididymides is 0.0025 gram in the newborn, body-weight of 4.4 grams; in my 

 normal newborns the weight ot the epididymides was 0.0012 gram, body-weight 4.92 

 grams. This weight is slightly below that given by Stewart and is less than half 

 the value given by Hatai. This difference is probably due to a variation in tech- 

 nique used in cleaning the organ. 



There were no male prenatal controls in Group I (table 5) . 



In the other groups the absolute weight of the epididymides in the test rats 

 is considerably above that of the prenatal controls, with the exception of Group III, 

 where it is 12 per cent below. The epididymides, however, average 17 per cent 

 higher in the test rats ot the various groups. This is about the same as the relation 



noted in the testes. 



In postnatal inanition the epididymides, like the testes, show their strongest 

 growth tendency shortly after birth (Stewart, 1918, 1918a); this, however, dis- 

 appears earlier in the epididymides than in the testes (see table 6) . 



Ovaries .—Jackson (1913) gives the weight of the ovaries in the newborn rat as 

 0.00078 gram, body-weight 5.0 grams. Stewart (1915a) found their weight to be 

 00110 gram' in the newborn with a body-weight of 4.98 grams. In my normal 

 newborns the weight of the ovaries was 0.00060 gram, body-weight 4.98 grams. 

 This lower weight for the ovaries in my series is probably due to a variation in 

 technique, since it is very difficult to free the ovary from its capsule and from the 



Fallopian tube. . ,,,,_,. T 



The data on the ovaries are somewhat irregular and conflicting (table o). In 

 Groups I and II the absolute weight of the ovaries in the test rats exceeds that in 

 the prenatal controls by 68 and 6 per cent, respectively; in Group III it is 37 per 

 cent below in Group IV it is 2.5 per cent above; in Group V, 33 per cent below. 

 The average weight is 1 .3 per cent higher in the test rats. It is hazardous to draw 

 any conclusions from such irregular data, but probably the ovary is very little 

 affected by prenatal inanition. . 



It is interesting to note, however, that the ovaries in postnatal inanition, in 

 general, show a tendency to increase in weight, This tendency is very slight shortly 

 after birth, since in young rats kept at a constant birth-weight for 16 days the ovaries 

 showed a gain of but 5 per cent in absolute weight above the controls (Stewart 

 1918a) In rats underfed from birth to 3 weeks the ovaries showed a gain ot 83 

 per cent, and in rats starved from birth to 10 weeks the gain is 54 per cent, 

 Stewart 1918). In rats kept at a constant body-weight from 3 to 10 weeks ot age 



