Physiological Action of Uranium Salts. 5 



Examination of the analytical results shows that the uranium salt 

 has a marked influence on the excretion of water, the increase 

 amounting on an average for the nine days period to over 80 c. c. 

 per day. There is also a very marked increase in the specific 

 gravity of the daily excretion, but this is without doubt in great 

 part due to the presence of albumin and sugar, as the increase is 

 most noticeable on those days when the largest amounts of sugar and 

 albumin were excreted. 



Regarding nitrogen, a comparison of the total amounts excreted 

 for the two periods, after correction for the nitrogen of the albumin, 

 indicates that small doses of the uranium salt have little, if any, 

 influence on proteid metabolism. On the last three days of the 

 uranium period, however, when the amount administered had not 

 only been increased, but there was doubtless also an accumulative 

 effect, the excretion of nitrogen appeared to be considerably above 

 the normal, certainly enough to warrant the assumption that com- 

 paratively large doses of uranium salts may increase somewhat pro- 

 teid metabolism, and this view is sustained by the increase in both 

 the total and daily average amounts of sulphur and phosphorus 

 excreted. During the uranium period of ten days, 1*295 grams of 

 the nitrate, or 19'98 grains, were given without any apparent ill 

 effects being immediately produced. 



Excretion of sugar atid albumin. 



After about 0'4 of a gram of uranium nitrate had been given, the 

 urine began to show traces of albumin and five days after this, sugar 

 made its appearance. The amounts excreted are shown in the accom- 

 panying table. Sugar was determined by AUihn's gravimetric 

 method, and albumin by boiling with acetic acid and collecting the 

 coagulum on a weighed filter. On the 18th, the weighed diet was 

 discontinued, but the urine was kept under close scrutiny with the 

 results shown in the table. The sugar first disappeared and four 

 days after this the albumin, likewise. On again administering 

 uranium, and in much larger doses than in the first series, both 

 sugar and albumin failed to appear until after a single dose of over 

 4 grams of the salt had been administered, when considerable albu- 

 min showed itself in the urine. We were then compelled to stop 

 the experiment, and the dog was chloroformed and a ])Ost-mortem 

 immediately made. 



The liver was excessively congested and appeared abnormally 

 large. Microscopic examination of hardened sections showed an 



