1913] Arnos W. Peters 241 



literature of investigation along biochemical lines; but, as above 

 stated, this we shall continue to present in future numbers of this 

 Bulletin. At present, before we have actually begun oiir own 

 experimental work, we can give only an outline of the topics we 

 plan to pursue to such extent as workers and material resources per- 

 mit. The field is so rieh as to tax the judgment in the selection of 

 the first attacks, and we are well aware that we are outlining more 

 than our present resources permit to be done in the near future. 

 Publicity and hearty Cooperation with other individuals and in- 

 stitutions is, of course, our policy. In the present article, however, 

 and at the very beginning of our work, we are describing only the 

 nature of the work to be done without specific detail regarding par- 

 ticular problems or methods. 



Our primary line of effort to which the others are logically re- 

 lated is the study of the conditions of metabolism presented by the 

 feeble minded of this institution. Very few studies of this nature 

 have been made, and the material for them is here presented under 

 favorable conditions for investigation. Promiscuous examinations 

 or experiments will not be made. But at first typical and psycho- 

 logically well-known and defined cases will be selected. For orien- 

 tation they will at first be studied in their undisturbed condition 

 before the experimental factor is introduced. By metabolism we 

 understand, of course, the sum total of the chemical changes which 

 a living organism continually performs within its tissues and upon 

 the substances which it utilizes. The progress of biological science 

 has made the term practically synonymous with the processes of life 

 in so far as they are non-psychical. Under this head we intend to 

 subject the idea of intoxication, whether endogenous (autointoxi- 

 cation) or exogenous, to a rather thorough testing, especially in its 

 relation to psychopathological phenomena. Two other related 

 topics with which we will be compelled to deal in this connection 

 pertain to the subject of glandulär secretions and that of lipoid or 

 phosphorus metabolism. It is well known that the method of glan- 

 dulär feeding is extensively practiced in psychopathological cases 

 and institutions. It appears that this is usually done in a promiscu- 

 ous way with but little of the Clements of control experiments 

 or of adequate therapeutic indications. In our future notes and 



