44 H. H. Chittenden — The Influence of Urethan, Paraldehyde^ 



II. The influence of Paraldehyde ; — from experiments made by J. E. Docken- 



dorff, Ph.B. 



In the following experiment, a full-blooded coach dog of 25 kilos, 

 weight was employed. The animal was confined in a suitable cage, 

 lined with galvanized iron and furnished with a bottom of wire net- 

 ting, under which was a funnel-shaped tray, the whole so arranged as 

 to allow all of the fluid excreta to pass into a collecting bottle under- 

 neath. 



The animal was fed daily on a weighed diet consisting of dessicated 

 beef, soda crackers and water. The beef was prepared by removing 

 as thoroughly as possible all fat, fascise, tendons, etc., passing it 

 through a sausage cutter and then drying it at a temperature below 

 60° C, until it had lost 75 per cent, of its weight. The dried and 

 sampled beef was then preserved in tightly stoppered jars until 

 needed. The crackers were ordinary soda crackers, containing about 

 0-7 per cent, of nitrogen. The daily rations consisted of 60 grams of 

 crackers and 125 grams of the dessicated beef, soaked in 600 c. c. of 

 water. This diet was commenced sometime before the urine was 

 collected, and was continued throughout the experiment. Ulti- 

 mately, the 24 hours' urine was analyzed each day, according to the 

 methods described in the preceding experiment. Owing to irregular- 

 ity of urination, and the difticulty of using a catheter, the quantity 

 of urine obtained each day was necessarily quite variable, hence 

 the composition of the normal urine was determined daily for 

 three weeks, so that a sufficiently large number of results might 

 be obtained to yield an accurate average for the normal period. 

 Paraldehyde was then administered in gelatin capsules, about six 

 hours after the dog had been fed, so that the drug might not inter- 

 fere with digestion. Its administration was continued for eighteen 

 days. 



The results, expressed in grams for each 24 hours' urine, are shown 

 in the accompanying tables. 



