424 TOKUYASU KUDO 



in the weight of the suprarenals. In scorbutic guinea-pigs he 

 finds the weight, even doubled, but associated with degenerative 

 changes. 



Hypophysis 



In the case of the hypophysis, as with the suprarenal glands, 

 there is normally a sexual difference in weight (Hatai, '13). 

 Males only are considered in the following discussion. 



The hypophysis in the acute-thirst series shows an apparent 

 loss of 1.7 per cent (in an average weight) and in the chronic- 

 thirst series a gain of 1.7 per cent. These differences are too 

 small to be considered significant. The apparent increase of 8.3 

 per cent in the weight of the hypophysis in rat Si. 2 (table 1) on 

 total inanition is perhaps due to an individual variation. 



No data have been found in the literature concerning the 

 changes of weight in the hypophysis during thirst. In albino 

 rats after inanition, with water, Jackson ('15) found the weight 

 of the hypophysis apparently decreased relatively slightly less 

 than the whole body. It would therefore appear that during 

 inanition with water there is a marked loss in the weight of the 

 hypophysis, whereas during the thirst experiments and total in- 

 anition it remains more nearly constant. McCarrison ('19) finds 

 as result of vitamine-deficient diets the hypophysis (glandular 

 lobe) slightly increased in pigeons, and usually so in monkeys. 



DISCUSSION 



The changes in the absolute weights of the various systems and 

 organs as a result of thirst in the adult albino rats are summarized 

 in table 2. While (as previously stated) no great emphasis can 

 be laid upon the exact values, it is apparent that, with reference 

 to the relative loss in weight during the thirst experiments, the 

 various organs and systems may be divided into three groups. 



In the first group, the loss of the organs in weight is relatively 

 greater than that for the whole body. In the second, the loss 

 is less than that for the entire body — but more than half as 

 great — and finally in the third group it is less than half that for 



