1913] Sergius MorguHs 75 



original weight. The general physiological transformation of the 

 animal during that short time has been studied carefully and will be 

 related in detail when the entire work is published. 



Nitrogen was avariciously retained by the organism during 

 realimentation, so that in these four weeks the organism was en- 

 riched by 191 gm. of protein after it reclaimed what had been lost 

 during the chronic underfeeding. In the first week only 58 percent 

 of the absorbed nitrogen appeared in the urines, but this relation 

 gradually changed; and as early as the fourth week, 73.8 percent 

 was eliminated, or nearly as much as for the preliminary period. 



With the resumption of feeding a striking change occurred in 

 the reaction of the urine. The urines were tested every day and 

 were invariably acid to litmus paper. On the third day of refeed- 

 ing with superabundant quantities of food, it was observed that the 

 urine lost its clearness, having become strongly alkaline. It seemed 

 at first that the alkalinity was caused by bacterial contamination, but 

 preservation of the urine with thymol over night did not prevent its 

 being alkaline. There was no indication of disease in the dog, 

 although persistent alkalinity of the urine is generally regarded 

 as a Symptom of cystitis. The alkalinity was due to an excess of 

 ammonium carbonate in the urine, as could be shown by a very 

 simple experiment. Two different strips of litmus paper were 

 dipped in the urine, whereupon the red became dark blue, but the 

 blue Strip remained unaffected. The two strips were then allowed 

 to dry, when the red color was restored to the former and the latter 

 turned red. The strong ammoniacal smell of the urines left no 

 doubt as to the true cause of the alkalinity. This condition lasted 

 for only a f ew days, when the urines cleared up again ; and the nor- 

 mal acid reaction returned, and remained undiminished thereafter. 

 Unfortunately, I was unable to study the nitrogen partition, but I 

 would venture to suggest that the great influx of phosphates and 

 acid cleavage products of the protein digestion, coupled with a 

 generally impaired condition of the liver and of the whole organism, 

 for that matter, resulted in a rapid elimination of ammonium car- 

 bonate before its transformation into urea. 



Sergius Morgulis 



College of Physicians and Surgeons, New York. 



