366 EXPEKIMENT STATION EECOED. 



due to the increase of these metabolites in the blood stream." " There are the 

 following forms of metabolism in the quiet or sleeping dog excluded from ther- 

 mal influences: (1) A basal metabolism, in which the cells are nourished by a 

 blood stream which does not receive food from the intestinal tract, but the com- 

 position of which is regulated by the organs of the body; (2) a metabolism 

 due to plethora, induced by an increased quantity in the blood of carbohydrates 

 or fat metabolites which are being absorbed from the intestine; and (3) a 

 metabolism due to the stimulus of certain incoming amino acids acting upon the 

 cells. The metabolism of plethora and the metabolism of amino acid stimula- 

 tion can not be added to each other ; there is no summation, of effect when both 

 influences are brought into action together. In other words, the rhythm of 

 cellular motion induced by the presence of carbohydrates is not further inten- 

 sified by the stimulus of amino acids, unless the latter alone would accomplish 

 the result." 



The role of proteins in growth, L. B. Mendel {Trans. 15. Internat. Cong. 

 Hyg. and Demogr. Washington, 2 (1912), Sect. 2, pp. 4^9-438). — ^A summary and 

 discussion of the work done by Osborne and the author in feeding rats with 

 isolated protein substances (E. S. R., 24, p. 804; 25, p. 864; 28, pp. 863, 864). 



Studies of protein minimum, M. Hindhede (Skand. Arch. Physiol., 30 {1913), 

 'No. 1-3, pp. 97-182, 228, figs. 5). — This work is based on experiments similar to 

 thost. previously reported (E. S. R., 28, p. 564) with subjects living on diets 

 consisting mainly of potatoes and fat. The nitrogen content of the diets was 

 very low, varying approximately from. 3 to 8 gm. per day. 



The author interprets the results as indicating that the protein minimum 

 varies with individuals as it does with the same individual under different con- 

 ditions of muscular activity. In these experiments, all excess of protein in the 

 diet [Luxusverbrauch] is believed to have been absent, and the nitrogen ex- 

 creted, therefore, represented only the inevitable loss of body cells. The results 

 indicate that the utilization of protein during muscular work increases in the 

 same ratio as, or one slightly greater than, that of energy. 



The nutrition and growth, of bone, F. H. McCeudden {Trans. 15. Internat. 

 Cong. Hyg. and Demogr. Washington, 2 {1912), Sect. 2, pp. 424-429). — ^Accord- 

 ing to the author, bone, like other tissues, undergoes metabolism throughout 

 life. When the new bone, which is constantly being formed, is not of proper 

 composition, various diseases (rickets, etc.) may result. Bones serve as a 

 storehouse of lime salts, according to the author, just as the liver serves as a 

 storehouse of glycogen. 



The antagonistic action of salts, J. Loeb {Trans. 15. Internat. Cong. Hyg. 

 and Demogr. Washin\gton, 2 {1912), Sect. 2, pp. 457-463). — In answering the 

 question as to what is the physiological function of salts in the organism, the 

 author emphasizes that of safeguarding the specific permeability of cells, a 

 function which finds its expression in the so-called antagonistic salt action. 



He carried on experiments with muscular tissue and eggs of the marine fish 

 Fundulus, the results of which he summarizes as follows : " The antagonistic 

 action of salts is due, in all cases where an analysis of these phenomena is 

 possible, to a prevention of the increase in permeability which a salt would 

 have if it were alone in solution. The fact that these Injurious effects are 

 reversible indicates that the changes in permeability may play a great role in 

 the physiology and pathology of cells, a fact to which Osterhout has also 

 called attention. The experiments show that the salts are responsible for the 

 reversibility of the increase in permeability. It is also of Importance that 

 these experiments seem to prove that the antagonistic action of acids and salts, 

 and possibly of electrolytes in general, is due to an action upon proteins." 



