290 Dr. F. Medigreceanu. Relative Sizes of the [Dec. 21^ 



other hand, especially when the tumours are very large, the ratio of liver to 

 " body-weight plus tumour " is smaller than the normal value. The weight 

 of the tumour usually includes an indeterminate quantity of dead material 

 (necrosis and fluid), as already pointed out, so that more accurate com- 

 parisons are made with " body-weight less tumour," and on this basis the 

 liver is always enlarged. 



The constancy of this result makes a more detailed discussion desirable. 

 It is necessary to be sure that the disturbance of the normal ratio is not only 

 apparent and due neither to mere loss of weight in the other organs, nor to 

 the liver reaching a weight equivalent to what it would have attained in the 

 same animal during the natural augmentation of the body-weight. The first 

 of these two possibilities is easily excluded. The liver is heavier than 

 normal, even if the estimated loss in weight be added to the body-weight. 

 One example may suffice. The quota contributed by the tumour to the total 

 weight (body plus tumour) was calculated in a rat with transplanted sarcoma 

 from daily weighings of the animal, and weekly estimations of the growth of 

 the tumour. It was found that the maximum body-weight was 132 grammes 

 12 days before the animal was killed. The liver weighed 10'5 grammes 

 at death. The ratio 10-5 : 132 : : 1 : 12-5 is higher than the normal 1 : 19-9. 

 The tumour in this case weighed 55'7 grammes, and if we assume that this 

 were merely a part of a normal animal, the total (rat plus tumour) reaches 

 180 grammes. The contents of the alimentary canal weighed 12-6, which, 

 deducted from the gross weight, 180 grammes, gives 167"4 grammes, and thus 

 the liver ratio 1 : 15'9 is higher than normal. Loss of body-weight does not 

 introduce a disturbing factor in the majority of the cases examined, since most 

 animals presented the same weight as at the time of inoculation. In some 

 cases tlie body-weight had increased, and only in a few cases had it diminished. 

 The diflerences in liver-ratio are, however, considerable, so that the second 

 possibility can also be excluded. A rat was examined 20 days after 

 complete disappearance of a transplanted sarcoma which had reached a size 

 of 10 to 12 grammes. The liver was found to l)o enlarged still {vide Table II). 

 This case should be compared with the results obtained in pregnant mice in 

 which a hypertropliy of the liver was also noted (■?;?>/(? Table 1); apparently 

 this hypertropliy disappears in a short time after the birth of the young. 

 There are, however, other differences betwecii the livers of normal and tumour 

 animals, such as the increased percentage ol" water in tlie latter (as high as 

 4 to 5 per cent, more tlian in normals), which indicate (jualitative diil'erences 

 as well. 



More drtailod iiiv(!Htigations are being made to (h'termino when tlie 

 hypertrophy of the liver connnences. So far the results have been 



