BIOLOGY. 293 



difference of 2b grammes of oxygen used in excess of the amount 

 taken up from the air. 



It is certainly not by accident that the oxygen excreted with the 

 carbonic acid of the night after rest, as well as after labor, ap- 

 proaches very nearly the amount of oxygen taken up from the air 

 on the preceding day. 



From the result of the excretion of water it appears that, after 

 a fatiguing labor, a man not only gets momentarily into perspira- 

 tion, but perspires the following night more than after a day of 

 quiet. 



The investigations show positively that the absorbed oxygen is 

 never directly used for oxidation down to the last products of 

 combustion, but that there are intermediate stages of oxidation by 

 which the oxygen is retained in the body for hours before it reap- 

 pears in the form of carbonic acid and water, — a fact which previ- 

 ous experiments on marmots during winter sleeps have demon- 

 strated. 



The discovery of Voit, made 6 years ago on the dog, that 

 with the greatest muscuhir exertion there is not more albumen 

 decomposed than with perfect rest, has been confirmed by the 

 experiments of July 31 and August 3, made on man. On both 

 days, so different in regard to muscular exertion, there was not 

 more nitrogen excreted through the kidneys and bowels than an 

 amount contained in the food that had been taken. There is, 

 however, an intimate connection between the amount of the albu- 

 men of the food and the exiiibition of spontaneous muscular force. 

 Experiments of Henneberg indicate that the poorer the food in 

 albumen, the less the stock of oxygen that can be accumulated 

 during night, so that more oxygen has to be taken up in daytime, 

 even when the whole consumption in the 24 hours is less. — Med. 

 Repertory. 



PULMONARY CONSUMPTION. 



Dr. William Budd, an eminent London physician, gives the fol- 

 lowing as the principal conclusions to which he has been led, re- 

 garding phthisis or consumption, and tubercle : 1. That tubercle 

 is a true zymotic disease of a specific nature, in the same sense as 

 ty]jhoid fever, scarlet fever, typhus, etc., etc. 2. That, like these 

 diseases, tubercle never originates spontaneously, but is perpetu- 

 ated solely by the law of continuous succession. 3. Tiiat the tu- 

 berculous matter itself is (or includes) the specific morbific matter 

 of the disease, and constitutes the material by which consumption 

 is propagated from one person to another, and disseminated 

 through society. 4. That the deposits of this matter are therefore 

 of the' nature of an eruption, and bear the same relation to the 

 disease as yellow fever, for instance, bears to typhoid fever. 5. 

 That by the destruction of this matter, on its discharge from the 

 body, by means of proper chemicals or otherwise, seconded by 

 good sanitary conditions, there is reason to hope that we may 

 eventually, and possibly at no distant time, rid ourselves of this 



fatal scourge. 



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