EFFECTS OF INANITION UPON ORGANS OF RAT 99 



LUNGS 



The lungs of the rat are quite variable in weight, owing to 

 the frequency of infection, which may affect their weight even 

 when the lesions are slight. The average for the lungs in the 

 acute inanition series is 0.61 per cent of the body weight, and 

 0.55 per cent in the chronic inanition series (table 3). Since 

 the normal lungs corresponding to the average initial body 

 weight form an average of about 0.60 per cent (Jackson '13), it 

 appears (although the evidence is insufficient for final conclusions) 

 that during inanition, both acute and chronic, in adult albino 

 rats the lungs lose in weight in about the same proportion as 

 the whole body, their relative (percentage) weight remaining 

 nearly the same. Taking the normal weight of the lungs at cor- 

 responding body weights from Hatai's ('13) curve, there is ap- 

 parently a decrease from about 1.40 to 0.968 gram (loss of 30.9 

 per cent) in the acute inanition series; and from about 1.24 

 to 0.743 gram (loss of 40 per cent) in the chronic series. Again, 

 as in the case of the viscera previously considered, the loss appears 

 relatively greater during chronic inanition. 



Comparatively few data are found in the Hterature concerning 

 the weight of the lungs in inanition. In pigeons, Chossat ('43) 

 found a loss of 22.4 per cent in the lungs, compared with 40 

 per cent in the entire body weight. Thus their relative (per- 

 centage) weight is considerably increased, which was also ob- 

 served by Voit ('66) and Sedlmair ('99) in the cat, and von 

 Bechterew ('95) in newborn kitten. In the dog, however, Falck's 

 ('54) data indicate a loss relatively slightly greater than that 

 of the body, with a corresponding decrease in percentage weight. 



LIVER 



The liver in the acute inanition series (table 3) forms an aver- 

 age of about 2.88 per cent of the body weight. Since the normal 

 for the corresponding initial body weights is about 4.5 per cent 

 in the acute inanition series, and 4.3 per cent in the chronic 

 (Jackson '13) it is evident that the Hver has apparently lost in 

 weight relatively more than the body as a whole. In the chronic 



