ULTIMATE EFFECTS OF INANITION ON SIZE 121 



In the present series (table 2) the individual organs in the vari- 

 ous groups of underfed rats refed to maximum body weight may 

 be mentioned briefly. 



The brain, as seen in table 2, remains subnormal (—4.2 to 

 — 8.0 per cent) in the rats refed to maximum weight after under- 

 feeding from birth, although somewhat nearer normal than in 

 those refed to body weight of 25 to 75 grams (previously men- 

 tioned). Thus underfeeding at this early period, while not pre- 

 venting a marked temporary overgrowth of the brain (with nor- 

 mally proportioned parts, according to Stewart, '18 a) , apparently 

 exerts an inhibitory influence on the later growth of the brain, 

 which is retarded so as to lag slightly behind the body as a whole 

 in its ultimate growth in weight. 



On the other hand, the longer underfeeding period beginning 

 at the later age of three weeks is apparently less disturbing in its 

 effects upon the growth of the brain, which is nearly normal in 

 weight (relative to the body) both at the end of the fasting period 

 and at the end of the ref ceding period (table 2, last two columns). 

 Hatai ('07) likewise found a normal weight for the central nervous 

 system of rats refed after partial starvation (starch diet) for 

 three weeks in rats one month old. King ('16), however, found 

 both brain and spinal cord subnormal in weight in dwarfed rats 

 which were undersized ('runts') from birth. As suggested above, 

 this condition may possibly be due to prenatal malnutrition. 



The spinal cord, though subnormal in weight in the rats refed 

 to body weight of 25 to 75 grams, after underfeeding from birth 

 (Jackson and Stewart, '19), is more nearly normal in the present 

 series refed to maximum weight. As seen in table 2, the first 

 group (—6.7 per cent) is the only one showing any appreciable 

 deviation from the normal. 



The eijeballs which grow to a remarkable extent during early 

 inanition and are still somewhat above normal weight on refeed- 

 ing to a body weight of 25 to 75 grams, are nearly normal in 

 corresponding rats refed to maximum body weight (table 2, first 

 two columns). Of those underfed at a later period, one group 

 shows an underweight ( — 10.7 per cent), the other an overweight 

 (4-18.0 per cent) in the eyeballs, the difference being of uncer- 

 tain significance. 



