'10 CAREY P. McCORD 



first recorded feeding experiments. For this work they made use of 

 kittens, young guinea pigs and rabbits as test animals. 



"Of eight half grown guinea pigs, well fed (an excess of bread and 

 fresh cabbage, no water), in an airy and well lighted room, under obser- 

 vation for five weeks, all in the same cage, four received intraperitoneal 

 injections, three times a week, of pineal nucleoproteid, and four were 

 kept as controls. The dose of nucleoproteid was fifteen minims of a solu- 

 tion of which one ounce represented thirty calves' glands. The controls 

 gained 25 per cent in weight, the subjects gained 36 per cent. The differ- 

 ence was perceptible to the eye, and the subjects could be picked out by 

 persons not knowing which had been injected. 



"Of twelve small kittens, selected at random from tenement backyards, 

 six were fed on calf's pineal, and six were kept as controls. The subjects 

 outgrew the controls rapidly in activity, size, intelligence, and resistance 

 to intercurrent disease. The best control, beginning with a weight of 11 

 ounces, gained 4 ounces in two months and a half. The best subject, 

 starting with a weight of 12 ounces, gained 12 ounces more, doubling his 

 weight. The food was milk and raw meat. The medication for the sub- 

 jects was fresh gland one calf's gland apiece per day, or thirty minims 

 of a standardized solution of nucleoproteid in the milk. 



"Twelve small guinea pigs, laboratory bred, were selected for a third 

 experiment. Six were fed for four months on the pineal substance, ap- 

 proximately 5/8 grain three times a week, and six were kept as controls. 

 The subjects (average of five surviving) increased their weight 325 per 

 cent; the controls (average of four surviving) increased their weight 250 

 per cent. 



"Ten small rabbits were selected for a fourth experiment. They were 

 of varying color and size, and did not appear to be of the same parentage. 

 They were under observation for five months. Of the five pineal fed ani- 

 mals, one died. The four survivors, weighing in toto at the beginning of 

 the experiment 2975 grams, gained in the period mentioned a total of 

 5770 grams, or an average of 1442.5 grams per rabbit. 



"The five controls met with various accidents in the period of experi- 

 ment, and the three survivors at the end of the time had gained in all 

 3223 grams, or an average gain of 1074 grams per rabbit. The subjects 

 were beautiful specimens clean, fat, active and salacious. The gain they 

 made is certainly remarkable. One of the smaller ones trebled his weight 

 exactly." 



The Author's Feeding Experiments. McCord(a), in 1914, continued 

 the investigation. After some preliminary experiments in feeding young 

 chicks, guinea pigs were adopted as test animals. A lot of fifty in the sec- 

 ond week of life was selected and divided into test and control groups. 

 The test animals were daily fed 10 mgs. of desiccated calves' pineal tissue. 

 The control animals were fed equal quantities of milk sugar. Other con- 



