EFFECTS OF INANITION UPON ORGANS OF RAT 79 



For purposes of comparison, the previous observations upon 

 the normal weights of the various organs of the albino rat by 

 Donaldson ('09), Hatai ('13), Jackson ('13) and Jackson and 

 Lowrey ('12) were utilized. Some unpublished data from the 

 Missouri Agricultural Experiment Station upon a series of six 

 steers, varying from very fat to thin, are cited through the 

 courtesy of Professors Trowbridge and Moulton. 



The averages given in table 3 are the arithmetical means of 

 the corresponding individual observations in the acute and the 

 chronic inanition series, respectively. In estimating the nor- 

 mals at corresponding initial body weights for comparison, how- 

 ever, merely the averages were used. That is, the absolute 

 weight of each organ corresponding to the average body weight 

 was estimated (from data already available for the normal rat), 

 and the corresponding percentage weight calculated. This is 

 not quite so accurate as it would have been if the corresponding 

 normal for each individual had been estimated, and the mean of 

 these taken for comparison with the averages in the acute and 

 chronic inanition series. However, the difference is slight and 

 apparently not sufEcient in the present series to justify the 

 more laborious method of making the individual estimates. 



In view of the comparatively small number of observations, 

 and the known variability, especially of some of the organs 

 (Jackson '13), the conclusions reached in the present paper are 

 by no means to be considered as final. It is believed, how- 

 ever, that they are sufficient to give an approximate idea of 

 some of the more obvious and important changes in weight dur- 

 ing inanition. As such they may be useful, even though limited 

 in number, and may lead to further and more extensive inves- 

 tigations in the case of various individual organs. In general, 

 the amount of variation found is sufficient to demand the exer- 

 cise of caution in drawing conclusions from an insufficient num- 

 ber of observations, as is sometimes done in experimental work. 



Although the literature on the subject of inanition is ex- 

 tremely large, comparatively few specific data directly bearing 

 upon the question of the changes in the weight of the various 

 organs are to be found. These are referred to later under the 



