384 



LECTURE XVII. 



intestines showed that they began to take nourishment, other than the 

 milk of the mother, at the end of the twenty-second day. During this 

 time the absolute amount of hemoglobin had increased more than three- 

 fold. It was perfectly possible for this increase to arise from the amount 

 of iron contained in the milk. Now if we compare the amounts of hemo- 

 globin present per kilogram of the animal's weight, it is evident that at 

 birth the relative amount of hemoglobin present was remarkably high; 

 this value diminishes little by little as the animal gains in weight, reach- 

 ing its lowest value toward th*e end of lactation. This minimum becomes 

 all the more remarkable when we remember that with full-grown rabbits 

 there is from 7 to 10 grams of hemoglobin per kilogram of the animal's 

 weight. As soon as the animal's nourishment changes from milk to 

 green fodder rich in iron, both the absolute and relative amounts of hemo- 

 globin increase quite materially. 



It is interesting to know how much iron is present in the new-born 

 rabbits in some other form than hemoglobin. In the following table this 

 is computed on the assumption that the hemoglobin of rabbits contains 

 0.336 per cent of iron. 1 The value thus obtained is then deducted from 

 the amount of iron that Bunge 2 found per kilogram of the animal's 

 weight. 3 



RABBITS, SERIES I. 



1 O. Zinoffsky: Z. physiol. Chem. 10, 32 (1885). 



2 Loc. cit. 



8 This computation is naturally not accurate, but gives relative values. 



