I9I2] Lafayette B. Mendel 141 



in a number of cases, be demonstrated microchemically. In the case 

 of potassium salts this Is especially feasible. They are in this way 

 found Condensed in interfaces inside of living cells, and also on sur- 

 faces in tissues, i. e., on the external surfaces of nerve cells, of renal, 

 pancreatic and salivary tubules, and thereby relations are established 

 which determine the processes of excretion and secretion of these 

 salts. In such cases the potassium salts in the tissue fluids elsewhere 

 than at the surfaces or interfaces are scarcely detectible microchem- 

 ically. 



5. Surface tension is, therefore, an all-important factor in de- 

 termining the distribution of salts in living matter. 



The role which common salt and water assume in the nutrition 



of man 



HERMANN STRAUSS 



Common salt plays an important part as a regulator of the 

 osmotic processes in the human organism, whereby the latter with 

 greatest tenacity holds fast the percentage concentration of its fluids. 

 Man can get along on relatively small quantities ( jE^ gm. ) of " salt 

 required by the tissues." But the majority of civilized men con- 

 sume much greater quantities of common salt, and the principal 

 quantity taken in food plays the part of a " seasoning salt." There- 

 fore, the reduction, in the diet, of common salt has its limits, since dis- 

 turbances may ensue f rom too great a reduction. Where the supply 

 is too abundant, the excess is excreted. As a result of reduction of 

 ingested common salt, a diminution in the secretion of gastric juice 

 has been noted in dogs. In diseases of the stomach in men, it has 

 been proposed, in the case of lack of hydrochloric acid in the gastric 

 juice, to introduce copious quantities of common salt ; in the case of 

 increase in the secretion of gastric juice, to decrease the quantity 

 of common salt in the food. But, in practice, with such a proce- 

 dure, it has been possible to obtain only inconstant results. 



I myself have pointed out, that an excretory insufficiency of the 

 renal function may be traced to a retention of common salt. 

 Through the retention of water, this condition favors the develop- 

 ment of dropsy, since the principal amount of the retained salt finds 



