114
TABLE XXXII.
Showing the Rainfall of Poona from 1890 to 1895.
Month.
January
February
March
April
May
June
July
August
September
October
November
December
... ...
... ...
... ...
... ...
... ...
... ...
... ...
... ...
... ...
... ...
... ...
... ...
Total ...
1890.
Inches.
...
....
...
1.28
0 13
4.33
3.68
3.33
4.06
2.44
4.46
0.58
24.29
1891.
Inches.
...
...
...
0 32
1.01
0.66
8.35
2.97
1.16
3.03
...
...
17.50
1892.
Inches.
...
0.66
...
0.14
0.26
5.89
11.80
4.51
7.97
17.41
0 28
...
48.92
1893.
Inches.
...
...
...
1.19
3.80
15.13
2.32
3.34
2.08
1.24
2.03
...
31.13
1894.
Inches.
0.00
0.51
0.00
0.42
0 05
2.23
12.84
2.22
2.28
8.52
0.00
000
29.07
1895.
Inches.
...
0.24
...
...
...
7.00
5.47
3.43
7.72
5.46
0.74
...
30.06
The great, majority of rats present the hæmatozoon in their circulation, but in varying numbers,
some time during the rainy season. From our observations, the spleen attains its maximum size towards
the end of the rains, and from that period the size of the organ gradually diminishes during the dry and
hot season, until the advent of the following monsoon, unless occasional heavy rain falls between Nov-
ember and May.
It has been observed during the middle of the hot and dry season that when rain suddenly falls
after a long period of drought (4 months), the percentage of animals in which the hæmatozoon is found
increases rapidly in the first few days (7) following the fall. The percentage then rapidly falls, and a
second maximum is reached during the fourth week. The increase of percentage in the first week was
found to be 7.5, while the maximum in the fourth week was 11.0 per cent.
The presence in varying numbers of the hæmatozoon in the circulation of rats does not appear to
produce any noticeable symptoms in the great majority of them. But some few rats, whose blood
swarmed with the hæmatozoon, have succumbed to leucocytosis, with extravasations of blood, containing
the organism, into the anterior chamber and vitrous humours of the eye, opacity of the cornea, enlarged
spleens, and extravasations of blood, or in some cases ulceration of the mucous membrane of the
stomach.
Several observers have stated that rats in whose blood, the hæmatozoon is found, do not appear to
show any pathological changes, as a consequence of the presence of such organism in their circulation.
There is no doubt, however, that a considerable increase in the size of the liver and spleen takes place
and frequently a certain degree of fatty degeneration of the former.
The following table shows the ratio found to exist in the different classes between the weight of
the spleen and that of the body, in a total of 2,126 rats examined:—
TABLE XXXIII.
Showing the ratio of spleen weight to body weight, when the hæmatozoon is present or absent from
the circulation of Rats (Mus decumanus) male and female, whose body weights are over or under
sixty grammes.
Hæmatozoon present or
absent in the blood.
Absent
Few
Numerous
Very numerous
Swarming
Present ..
Absent
Total ...
Total ...
Num-
ber of
Rats.
186
49
44
47
78
404
218
186
404
Males under
60 grammes
ratio
S. to B. W.
1: 228.4
1: 139.8
}1 : 136.6{
1: 107.2
1: 125.7
1: 228.4
Num-
ber of
Rats.
171
48
32
28
55
334
163
171
334
Females under
60 grammes
ratio
S. to B. W.
1 : 232.2
1 : 201.5
}1: 166.8 {
1: 119.2
1 : 157.4
4 : 232.2
Num-
ber of
Rats.
455
104
37
22
23
641
186
455
641
Males over
60 grammes
ratio
S. to B. W.
1 : 205.5
1: 190.0
} 1: 154.3 {
1: 137.9
1: 169.1
1: 205.5
Num-
ber of
Rats.
578
95
29
23
22
747
169
578
747
Females over
60 grammes
ratio
S. to B. W.
1: 203.3
1 : 144.3
}1: 137.4 {
1: 87.5
1 : 131.2
1 : 203.3
Num-
ber of
Rats.
357
97
76
76
133
738
381
357
738
Males and
Femalesunder
60 grammes
ratio
S. to B. W.
1 : 230.3
1 : 166.7
}1 : 147.4 {
1: 112.0
1: 139 3
1: 230.3
Num-
ber of
Rats.
1,033
199
66
45
45
1,388
355
1,033
1,388
Males and
Females over
60 grammes
ratio
S. to B. W.
1: 204.3
1 : 165.7
}1: 146.9
1: 108.1
1: 149.9
1 : 204.3