4 i 4 SCIENCE PROGRESS. 



The first of these papers was the result of work carried 

 out at Breslau under Prof. Heidenhain's own superin- 

 tendence, and in it he accepts Heidenhain's hypothesis ; 

 but further research (embodied in the three succeeding" 

 papers), carried out in London, has led him to abandon 

 this in favour of Ludwig's mechanical filtration theory. He, 

 however, concludes his last paper in these words : "I think 

 I ought to emphasise the fact that my experiments are 

 merely a continuation and not a refutation of those of 

 Heidenhain. Not a single experimental result in his paper, 

 but I have been able to confirm. Indeed, to Prof. Heiden- 

 hain's work and teaching I am indebted for all the results 

 that I have succeeded in obtaining." 



With this preface, it will be next convenient to take 

 Starling's four papers one by one. 



The first paper relates to some points in reference tu 

 lymphagogues of the first class, peptone being specially se- 

 lected, as it is a fairly well-characterised chemical substance. 

 The question investigated was whether the stimulus to the 

 endothelial cells lies in the alteration produced in the blood 

 by the injected material, or in the substance actually in- 

 jected. As peptone was believed to disappear rapidly from 

 the blood after its injection, still leaving the blood, however, 

 in a profoundly altered condition, the solution of the question 

 was attempted in this wise: If the alteration of the blood 

 is the cause of the increased lymph flow, the injection into 

 a dog of a large amount of blood altered by peptone, but 

 containing little or none of this body, should produce a flow 

 of lymph similar to that brought about by a direct intro- 

 duction of peptone. After preliminary control experiments 

 with the injection of normal blood, the conclusion is drawn 

 that it is the peptone itself that causes the increased flow of 

 lymph. The principal fact made out, however, is this, that 

 peptone may be detected in the blood for a considerable 

 time (two hours) after its injection. This is contrary to the 

 statements of previous observers, who used methods for 

 detecting peptone which are not at all delicate. In fact the 

 chief value of this research was the introduction of a rapid 

 and trustworthy method for detecting proteoses (albumoses) 



