276 INANITION AND MALNUTRITION 



held at birth weight for 16 days, there was an average increase of 38 per cent in 

 the spleen weight. Barry ('20, '21) likewise found the spleen 34 per cent above 

 normal weight in the newborn (stunted) offspring of severely underfed pregnant 

 albino rats. 



Upon refeeding albino rats after underfeeding from 3 to 12 weeks of age, 

 Stewart ('16) found rapid recovery of normal spleen weight within a few days. 

 There was apparently even an excessive (over-compensatory) growth of the 

 spleen during the first 2 weeks of refeeding, but after 4 weeks the spleen weight 

 became normal. The results of Jackson and Stewart ('19) likewise indicated 

 an over-compensatory growth in the spleen after a short period of ample refeed- 

 ing, with a tendency to lag behind later (Table 7). In such rats refed to adult 

 stages after early periods of underfeeding, Jackson and Stewart ('20) found the 

 spleen varying in different groups from 12.6 per cent below normal to 11.8 per 

 cent above normal weight (Table 8). These differences are probably insignifi- 

 cant, in view of the great normal variability in the weight of the spleen. 



In young steers held on various planes of nutrition, including those markedly 

 retarded in growth by underfeeding, Moulton, Trowbridge and Haigh ('22a) 

 found the spleen weight in general nearly proportional to the body weight in all 

 cases. 



In pigeons subjected to acute inanition (water only) with loss of 38.7 per 

 cent in body weight, Findlay ('21) found an average loss of 60 per cent in the 

 spleen weight (Table 13). In chronic underfeeding, the spleen lost 71 per cent. 



Inlow ('22) in 2 fasting dogs ("fed a half-day's ration every third day") 

 with losses in body weight of 31.9 and 46.2 per cent, respectively, noted a corre- 

 sponding (estimated) shrinkage of 60 and 86 per cent in the spleen. The initial 

 size of the spleen was measured directly by means of a laparotomy at the 

 beginning of the experiment and compared with the findings at necropsy. 

 Inlow concluded that similar losses in spleen and body weight following ligation 

 of the pancreatic ducts are likewise due to the resultant inanition. 



In frogs (species?) which had lost two-thirds of their body weight by starva- 

 tion, Blumenthal ('04) found the spleen reduced to a diameter of 1 millimeter. 

 Gerhartz ('06) found in female Rana esculenta a spleen weight of 0.028 g. in a 

 normal frog with body weight of 47.5 g. In one starved 3 months in a warm 

 room, with body weight of 35 g., the spleen weighed only 0.001 g. ; and in 

 another starved 4^ months, body weight 40 g., the spleen was extremely 

 small (pin-head size). Ott ('24) in an extensive study on Rana pipiens dur- 

 ing torpidity and at various stages of inanition, up to a loss of 60 per cent in 

 body weight, found the average spleen weight very irregular in the various 

 groups and in the sexes (Table 6), so that he was unable to draw any general 

 conclusion. 



A. L. Gaule ('93) and J. Gaule ('01) noted seasonal changes in the weight of 

 the frog's spleen. Valentin ('57) found only a slight apparent loss (about 10 

 per cent) in the spleen of the hibernating marmot. Pappenheim ('01) even 

 claimed that in spermophiles the spleen during hibernation becomes greatly 

 enlarged. Thus during the seasonal changes, including hibernation, the 

 weight of the spleen appears very irregular. 



