Compressed Air; 0_, Poisoning 749 



Experiment CCCVIII. Dog weighing 16 kilos; since July 31, eats 

 every day 250 gm. of bread, 250 gm. of meat. 



August 3, at 8:30, catheterized. 



August 4, at 8:30, catheterized, and this urine added (100 cc.) to 

 what was voided in the 24 hours (475 cc.) It gives, by the Yvon pro- 

 cedure, 8062 cc. of nitrogen, that is, 21.6 gm. of urea. Rectal temper- 

 ature 35.8°. At 9 o'clock in the morning, placed in the apparatus, 

 where the pressure rises to 8 atmospheres; decompression begun at 

 4:50, still under a current of air; the animal is removed from the 

 apparatus at 6:20; he is in good condition; his temperature is 35.5°. 



August 5, at 8:30 in the morning, the catheter drew 245 cc. of 

 urine; there was none in the apparatus. It gave only 6329 cc. of 

 nitrogen, corresponding to 16.9 gm. of urea. 



These examples are enough to show that the chemical 

 phenomena on which depend the formation of urea and analogous- 

 products are impeded in the same manner as those which determine 

 the production of carbonic acid. 



Sugar of the Blood; Glycosuria. A search for sugar in the blood 

 and the urine shows us another chemical transformation, the de- 

 struction of this sugar, impeded by the action of oxygen under ten- 

 sion. In Experiment CCLXXXVI, the dog, which survived after 

 convulsions of extreme violence, voided after the decompression 

 urine with great sugar content; in Experiment CCLXXXI, which 

 ended in rapid death, the few drops of urine which the bladder 

 contained had high sugar content. This glycosuria, however, is not 

 constant (Experiment CCXC) . 



Experiments CCLXXXV, CCLXXXVI, CCLXXXIX, CCXC, 

 CCXCII, CCXCIII, and CCXCIV, that is, all in which the blood 

 was tested for sugar, showed first that there is always much glucose 

 in the arterial blood of a dog which has been subjected to com- 

 pression. But as we always find glucose in arterial blood when it is 

 treated according to the method of M. CI. Bernard by boiling with 

 sulfate of soda, comparative experiments CCLXXXIX, CCXC, 

 CCXCII, CCXCIII, CCXCIV had to be made on the blood before 

 and after compression, which showed very clearly that the latter 

 contains more sugar than the former. Experiment CCXCIII proves 

 besides that this excess of sugar disappears at the end of some time. 

 So the sugar which comes from the liver is much less rapidly 

 broken down in the organism under the influence of compressed 

 oxygen than at normal pressure, so that it is stored up in the blood 

 to the point of producing glycosuria. 



As to the production of the hepatic glucose itself, it is hampered 

 by the sufficiently prolonged action of oxygen at high tension, as 

 the following experiments prove. 



