AUTHOR'S ABSTRACT OF THIS PAPER ISSUED 

 BY THE BIBLIOGRAPHIC SERVICE, NOVEMBER 15 



STUDIES ON THE EFFECTS OF THIRST 



I. EFFECTS OF THIRST ON THE WEIGHTS OF THE VARIOUS ORGANS 

 AND SYSTEMS OF ADULT ALBINO RATS 



TOKUYASU KUDO 



The Institute of Anatomy, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis 



THREE TABLES 



CONTENTS 



Material and methods 402 



General observations 408 



Body weight 409 



Lengths of body and tail 410 



Weights of organs and systems 411 



Integument, skeleton, musculature, viscera and 'remainder,' brain, 

 spinal cord, sciatic nerves, eyeballs, heart and aorta, spleen, lungs, 

 parotid and submaxillary glands, liver, pancreas, stomach and intes- 

 tines, kidneys and bladder, testes, epididymis, thyroid gland, thymus, 

 suprarenal glands, hypophysis. 



Discussion 420 



Summary 430 



The importance of water for the Hving organism is well recog- 

 nized, but the effects of thirst (water inanition) have been studied 

 only to a relatively slight extent. It has long been known that 

 a diet deficient in water causes a loss in body weight in various 

 species of animals, and this principle has often been followed in 

 the treatment of human obesity. As to the effects upon the indi- 

 vidual organs, however, but few observations have been pub- 

 lished. The present investigation was undertaken to determine 

 the changes in the weight of the body and of the various organs 

 in adult albino rats subjected to a relatively dry diet for various 

 periods. The work was done in the Institute of Anatomy at the 

 University of Minnesota. This opportunity is taken to express 

 my indebtedness to Dr. CM. Jackson, Director of the Depart- 

 ment, for valuable aid and direction. 



399 



