III. — The Imfluence of Urethax, Paraldehyde, Antipyrin, 



AND ANTIFEBRl>f ON PROTEID METABOLISM. By R. H. ChIT- 

 TFNDEN. 



I. The influence of urethan ; — from experiments made by N. P. Washburn, 



Ph.B. 



Ethyl-urethan, C0(NHJ0.C2H^, which has recently come into 

 use as a hypnotic, is claimed by R. v, Jaksch* to be a sleep-produc- 

 ing agent, free from the usual disagreeable after effects common to 

 most hypnotics. According to this observer, urethan does not ap- 

 pear to exert any poisonous action on the heart, nor to have any 

 depressing influence on the arterial system. Tt is further assumed 

 that the drag is without influence on digestion. Urethan acts 

 mainly on the brain, the peripheral nervous system being unaffected, 

 and according to v. Jaksch the hypnotic effect is always produced 

 when the drug is taken in doses of 1 gram. 



Smaller doses (0'25-0*5 gram) are uncertain in their action. 



In view of the somewhat peculiar action of urethan as a hypnotic, 

 we have undertaken to study the influence of the drug on the proteid 

 metabolism of the healthy organism, in order to compare its action 

 in this respect with that of other well known hypnotics. 



Garnier,f alone, appears to have experimented in this direction. 

 He states that, in the case of a man, a dose of 6 grams of urethan was 

 followed by giddiness, etc., which condition, however, soon passed 

 away. In this experiment, the excretion of urea was appreciably in- 

 creased. In another experiment, the same observer found that a 

 dose of 2 grams of urethan was also followed by an increased excre- 

 tion of urea, in the case of a dog in a condition of hunger. A portion 

 of the urethan was appai-ently converted into urea and excreted as 

 such, but the greater part of the drug appeared in the urine unchanged. 

 Garnier further states that large, nearly fatal doses, of the drug check 



* Abstract in Jahresbericht fiir Thierchemie, 1885, p. 70. 



f Influence de I'urethane sur I'excretioQ des elements azotes de I'urine. Coiupt. 

 rend. soc. Biolog. 1886, p. 230. 



