2 56 BA CTERIOL OGY. 



the second week this daily amount of food was doubled ; 

 during the third week it was quadrupled ; and for the 

 fourth and fifth weeks they each received an excess of 

 food daily, consisting of green vegetables and grains 

 (oats and corn). By reference to the charts sudden 

 diurnal fluctuations in weight will be observed that 

 do not correspond in all instances with scarcity or suf- 

 ficiency of food. With the rabbits there is a gradual 

 loss of weight with the smaller amounts of food, which 

 losses are not totally recovered as the food is increased. 

 With the guinea-pigs there is likewise at first a loss ; 

 but after a short time the weight remains tolerably con- 

 stant, and is not so conspicuously affected by the increase 

 in food as one might expect. From the recorded tem- 

 peratures one sees the peculiar fluctuations mentioned. 

 To just what they are due it is impossible to say. It 

 is manifest that the normal temperature of these animals, 

 if we can speak of a normal temperature for animals 

 presenting such fluctuations, is about a degree or more, 

 Centigrade, higher than that of human beings. The 

 animals from which these charts were made were not 

 inoculated, nor were they subjected to any operative 

 procedures whatever, the only deviations from normal 

 conditions being the variations in the daily amount of 

 food given. 



In certain instances, however, there will be noticed 

 a constant tendency to diminution in weight, notwith- 

 standing the daily fluctuations, and after a time a con- 

 dition of extreme emaciation may be reached, the 

 animal often being reduced to from 50 to 60 per cent, 

 of its original weight. In other cases, after inoculations 

 to which the animal is not susceptible, rabbits in par- 

 ticular, if properly fed, will frequently gain steadily in 



