9 8 



Scientific Proceedings (52). 



This does not agree with the statistics for the human subject nor 

 with Minot's results in the guinea-pig, but, of course, the number 

 of individuals so far examined by me is too small to draw any 

 general conclusion from. The birth mortality is highest in the 

 males, as is also the average body weight when born. 



Minot found that in male guinea-pigs, as in newborn children, 

 there is an actual loss of weight for the first 3 or 4 days after birth. 

 Such, however, is not the case in the dog. In almost all the litters 

 there is some gain in 24 hours, and this is very decided at the end 

 of the second day. There is a post-natal retardation of growth 

 but it is of relatively short duration. 



67 (763) 



The influence of experimental cretinism upon nitrogenous 

 metabolism in the sheep. 



By Andrew Hunter. 



[From the Department of Physiology and Biochemistry, Cornell 

 University Medical College, Ithaca, N. Y.] 



The object of the investigation was to determine whether 

 athyroidism in sheep is associated with any striking abnormality 

 of intermediary metabolism, such as might be revealed by the 

 nitrogen partition of the urine. The subjects were three sheep 

 which have already been described before this Society by Simpson. 1 

 At the age of two months they had suffered the loss of the thyroid 

 and internal parathyroid glands, and had subsequently developed 

 into typical cretins. One year after the first operation the external 

 parathyroids also had been removed. While the later condition 

 was of course not that of uncomplicated athyroidism, symptoms 

 referable to the loss of the parathyroids were but slightly marked. 

 Tetany, in particular, was never observed. When the animals 

 came under my care they were one and a half to two years old. 



To furnish a basis of comparison two normal sheep, nearly 

 four years of age, were included in the investigation. As the 

 most convenient way of avoiding the difficulties caused by variable 

 appetite, etc., all five animals were starved. The urine was 

 collected as voided. 



1 Simpson, Proc. Soc. for Exp. Biol, and Medicine, 191 i, IX, 2. 



