EFFECTS OF SPONTANEOUS DISEASE ON ORGAN WEIGHTS OF RABBITS

A group of 127 rabbits presenting clinical manifestations of disease of spontaneous origin was studied with a view to determining whether any relation could be detected between physical constitution as represented by organ weights and functional activity as measured by the efficiency of the reaction to disease. The results of the investigation are presented in tabular form and the values obtained are compared, by means of graphs, with corresponding values for normal rabbits. It was found that animals that were the subjects of disease showed decided changes in the weights of nearly all organs, changes which appeared to be of functional origin in that the values obtained for organ weights and coefficients of variation tended to conform, in general, with the efficiency of the reaction displayed by the various groups of animals into which the entire series was divided.