A comparison of two different methods for the measurement of drinking in the rat

Drinkometers based on two different principles are described and compared. A capacitative design relied on the detection of a very small current through the animal as a means of recording contacts between the animal's tongue and the drinking spout. A photocell-based design relied on a beam across the front of the drinking spout being broken by the animal's tongue as a record of access to the spout. Both types of device were found to give a picture of the animal's behaviour similar to that obtained by a measure of the volume of fluid ingested. However the devices using a photocell were found to be less prone to error than the capacitative devices.