EFFECTS OF INANITION UPON ORGANS OF RAT 87 



and Sedlmair ('99) show a relative increase in the skin during 

 inanition. Much of the variation is doubtless due to the differ- 

 ences in the relative amount of fat present in the integument 

 of the normal animal. The subcutaneous fat is not abundant 

 in the rat. Some unpublished data from the Missouri Agri- 

 cultural Experiment Station upon a series of steers show that 

 the percentage of the hide increases from 5.5 per cent in a very 

 fat animal to 8.5 per cent of the body in a thin animal. 



SKELETON 



The ligamentous skeleton (table 3; fig. 2) forms an average of 

 15.3 per cent of the body after acute inanition (15.0 per cent 

 in the series in which the viscera were weighed), and 16.4 per 

 cent after chronic inanition. Since the average for the normal rat 

 corresponding to the initial body weight of the animals used is 

 only about 10 per cent of the body weight (Jackson and Lowrey 

 '12), it is evident that while the body weight has decreased one- 

 third during the period of inanition, the ligamentous skeleton 

 has decreased little or none in absolute weight. If the normal 

 skeleton formed 10 per cent of the body, and remained constant 

 while the body lost one-third in weight, the relative weight of 

 the skeleton would be increased one-half, or to 15.0 per cent. 

 This corresponds with the observations as closely as could be 

 expected. 



In terms of absolute weight, assuming that the skeleton formed 

 10 per cent of the normal initial weight, the skeleton apparently 

 decreased from 25.5 to 25.4 grams in the acute inanition series 

 (loss of 0.4 per cent); and increased from 21.4 to 21.8' grams 

 in the chronic inanition series (gain of 1.8 per cent). No great 

 stress can be laid upon the accuracy of these figures, however, 

 on account of the small number of observations, and the varia- 

 bihty and uncertainty as to the normal weight. 



The cartilaginous skeleton, including the bones and cartilages 

 after removal of the ligaments by maceration (as previously 

 described), forms an average of 10.9 per cent of the body in seven 

 cases of acute inanition, and 12.4 per cent in the chronic inani- 



