BIOMETRY OF CALCIUM, INORGANIC PHOSPHORUS, CHOLESTEROL, AND LIPOID PHOSPHORUS IN THE BLOOD OF RABBITS : I. NORMAL ANIMALS FROM RECENTLY ACQUIRED STOCK.

Determinations of calcium, inorganic phosphorus, cholesterol and lipoid phosphorus were made on a series of animals recently received from the dealer for the purpose of determining the trends of these 4 blood constituents throughout the year with the degree of their respective variations and mathematical correlation. It was found that for the 80 animals examined, calcium varied from 14.5 ±0.10 to 18.5 ±0.39 mg. and inorganic phosphorus 4.960 ±0.20 to 6.820 ±0.20 mg. per 100 cc. of blood serum. Cholesterol varied from 51.1 ±1.18 to 73.3 ±1.34 mg. and lecithin from 94.8 ±1.397 to 168.3 ±10.18 mg. per 100 cc. of whole blood. Of the 6 possible combinations in calculating the coefficient of correlation for the trend throughout the experiment, 3 stand out as of mathematical significance, namely the following. Between inorganic phosphorus and lecithin the coefficient of correlation was found to be –0.794 ±0.088; between calcium and cholesterol –0.887 ±0.051 and between cholesterol and lecithin +0.560 ±0.164.