98 C. M. JACKSON 



body weight it is probable that few of them were less than a 

 year old. Therefore while hunger is known to produce a marked 

 involution of the thymus (Hammar), it is probable that in the 

 present case the involution had already been produced by age, 

 and was not caused by inanition. According to Jonson ('09), in 

 young rabbits the weight curves of fat and thymus are similar 

 in chronic inanition, but the fat decreases somewhat more rapidly 

 in acute inanition. 



HEART 



The heart in the acute inanition series forms an average of 

 about 0.43 per cent of the body weight, and about 0.42 per cent 

 in the chronic inanition series (table 3). The normal for cor- 

 responding initial body weights would average about 0.43 per 

 cent (Jackson '13) or about 0.38 per cent, according to Hatai's 

 ('13) data. Thus it is evident that the heart during inanition 

 has lost weight nearly in the same proportion as the whole body. 



Using Hatai's ('13) curves to determine the normal at corre- 

 sponding initial body weights, the absolute weight of the heart 

 apparently decreases from about 0.925 to 0,6687 gram (loss of 

 27.7 per cent) in the acute inanition series; and from about 

 0.830 to 0.5577 gram (loss of 32.8 per cent) in the chronic inani- 

 tion series. As in the case of the viscera previously considered, 

 the loss is apparently slightly greater relatively in chronic 

 inanition. 



The statements in the literature generally indicate that the 

 heart during inanition loses somewhat less in weight than the 

 body as a whole, and increases accordingly in relative (per- 

 centage) weight. This would appear to be the case in man 

 (Aschoff '11; Lustig '02), cat (Voit '66; Sedlmair '99), new- 

 born kitten (v. Bechterew '95) dog (Falck '54), guinea-pig (Lasa- 

 rew '97), rabbit (Bowin '80), and in thin compared with fat 

 steers (data from Missouri Agricultural Experiment Station). 

 The data of Chossat ('43) for pigeons, however, would indicate a 

 reduction in heart w^eight relatively slightly greater than in the 

 body as a whole. 



