78 



INANITION AND MALNUTRITION 



Reeb ('05) for rabbits and dogs. King ('15, '21) observed subnormal average 

 weights of young albino rats born (sometimes stillborn) from mothers in ill- 

 health, and ascribed the result to prenatal malnutrition. 



The extensive experiments of Barry ('20, '21) indicate that underfeeding of 

 the pregnant albino rat must be severe in order to obtain positive results. 

 When starvation is instituted shortly after copulation, pregnancy is interrupted 

 by resorption of the ovum. If inanition is instituted in the second half of preg- 

 nancy, death and degeneration of the fetus occur in a few cases. No abortions 

 were observed (contrary to Diatschenko ('97, '99) and Reeb ('05) in rabbits) 

 the pregnancies proceeding to full term, as was likewise observed by Paton 

 ('03) and Rudolski ('05). Forty-one of 120 offspring were apparently stillborn, 



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Fig. 35. — Diagram showing the relative degree of atrophy (change in weight) of the body 

 and of various organs in pigeons during (i) total inanition and (2) partial inanition (milled 

 rice diet, deficient in various respects). The loss in body weight is about 40 per cent in each 

 case. There is a marked increase in weight of the suprarenals; the brain and hypophysis show 

 little or no change; while the other organs show variable losses in weight. (From McCarrison 

 '21; "Studies in deficiency disease," Oxford Med. Publ.; body weight corrected.) 



however, and the average weight of the newborn rats from these severely starved 

 mothers was only about 3 g. or 40 per cent below the normal birth weight of 

 5 g. (see Table 4). 



Human Prenatal Inanition. — In the human species, the possibility of reduc- 

 ing the fetus by underfeeding the pregnant mother has received much attention 

 on account of its clinical importance, especially in cases of maternal contracted 

 pelvis. The conflicting views found in the literature during the past century 

 have been summarized by Hoffmann ('92), Florschutz ('95), Reijenge ('96), 

 Schaeffer ('02) and Reeb ('05). A low maternal diet during pregnancy in order 

 to reduce the size of the fetus was proposed by Brunninghausen (1804) and was 

 advocated by Ackermann (1804), Reisinger (1820), Bandelocque (1820), 



