266 EXPERIMENT STATION RECORD. 



A convenient method for determining' caloric values of formulas based 

 on percentage feeding of infants, II. 1. I'.owuitcii (Jour. Avicr. Med. As.soc, 

 53 (1909), No. 16, pp. 126.'), 1266). — rrobleius in infant feeding are discussed 

 from two staud]K)ints. namely, the percentajie composition of food materials and 

 the enerji.v value of tLn> fo(Ml. The author believes that the two metliods should 

 be combined and has prepared a table which in his opinion facilitates the 

 calculations involved. 



Heubner's system of infant feeding expressed in calories and energy units, 

 E. Lackner (Jour. Amcr. Med. Assoc, ■',.] (1909), Ao. 16, pp. 1267-1269) .—In 

 this paper the author discusses the food requirements of infants expressed in 

 calories per kilogram of body weight, and other topics concerned with infant 

 feeding. The paper is followed by a discussion. 



Children in health and disease, D. Forsyth (London [1909]; rev. in Puh. 

 Ucdltli \ Loudon \, 2.3 (1909), No. 2, p. 59). — This volume deals with the physi- 

 ology of school children, the hygiene and medical aspects of schools and school 

 life, medical inspection and supervision of scholars, infantile mortality, the 

 proper feeding and management of infants, diseases of childhood and their 

 diagnosis and treatment, and similar topics. 



The macroscopic and microscopic appearances of stomach contents, J. W. 

 Weinstein (Jour. Amcr. Med. Assoc, 53 (1909), No. 21, pp. 1110-1116, figs. 

 8). — The autlior presents data regarding the appeai'ance of the stomach con- 

 tents withdrawn ;it intervals after test meals which are reported in comparison 

 with similar information for pathological conditions. The methods of staining 

 samples for microscopic examination are outlined. 



A metabolism experiment with special reference to the origin of uric acid, 

 R. H. A. Plimmer, M. Dick and C. C. Lieb (Jour. Physiol., 39 (1909), No. 2, 

 pp. 98-111, dgm. 1). — ^A meat diet, a purin-free diet, and a purin-rich diet were 

 studied. According to the authors, although their results agree with those 

 of previous investigators that the output of uric acid is greater on a meat or 

 mixed diet than on what is ordinarily termed a purin-free diet, yet they do 

 not support the views which are commouly advanced regarding the origin of 

 uric acid in the urine. 



" It is generally assumed that all the purins, whether endogenous or exog- 

 enous, undergo practically complete conversion into uric acid, and that one- 

 half of this was destroyed by oxidation whilst the other half appeared as uric 

 acid. The fact that in our experiments the purin base output remained mini- 

 mal and was not affected by any changes in the diet confirms the idea that 

 these substances undergo total conversion in the body, but our results do not 

 bear out the further statement that one-half of the converted purins appears 

 in the urine as uric acid." 



This was shown by the fact that the administi'ation of guanin and xanthin 

 gave practically no rise in the uric acid output; further, while the administra- 

 tion of very large quantities of purins in the form of herring roe increased 

 the output of uric acid, the excess corresponded to only about one-tenth ofi 

 the total purins ingested. Meat extract caused a large increase in the excretion 

 of uric acid, more than half of the purins present in it being converted into 

 uric acid. " On the above view, this could only be explained if it were as- 

 sumed that with this substance for some reason or other uricolysis or destruc- 

 tion of uric acid had diminished. 



"There is thus scarcely any relation between purins and uric acid in our 

 subject. Purins arising from the destruction of the nuclei of the leucocytes are 

 therefore probably not the precursors of the uric acid in the urine. . . . What 

 then is the relationship between leucocytes and uric acid? In all living animals 

 foodstuffs undergo metabolism ; in mammals the end product is urea, in birds, 



