Chittenden and Slake — Influence of Arsenic and Antimony/. 107 



small repeated doses of antimonious oxide are without influence on 

 the excretion of nitrogen, sulphur, and phosphorus, and that hence 

 when taken in non-toxic doses it has no noticeable action on proteid 

 metabolism.* Without doubt, toxic doses do materially aifect the 

 nutrition of the body, but with a dog of 13 kilos, weight the admin- 

 istration of repeated doses of antimonious oxide, to the extent of 17 

 grains in 13 days, led to no apparent change in the amount of nitrogen 

 etc. excreted, although the presence in the 24 hours' urine of 13-23 

 milligrams of antimony (Sb) gave evidence of decided absorption. 



We have therefore tried a few experiments on rabbits and fowls 

 to see what effect small Repeated doses of arsenic and antimony would 

 have on the liver, as indicated by its content of fat, glycogen, and 

 sugar. The experiments were made in pairs, in which one animal of 

 each pair served as a control for comparison, while the other, kept 

 under the same conditions of diet, etc. so far as possible, was fed 

 each day with arsenic or antimony as the case might be. At the end 

 of the period both animals were killed and the livers analyzed. 

 Naturally, the animals of each pair were of the same age, from the 

 same brood, and so far as possible of the same body weight. During 

 the experiment they were kept on a weighed diet of cracked corn, 

 meal, etc., and were confined in suitable cages. 



The methods of analysis were as follows : after determining the 

 body weight, the liver was quickly removed, weighed and sampled 

 by chopping, 10 grams or thereabouts were then weighed out accu- 

 rately, dried on a water bath, ground to a fine powder and extracted 

 in a fat extractor with warm ether until the fat was entirely removed. 



For glycogen and sugar, 20-40 grams of the sampled liver were 

 thoroughly extracted with hot water, (continuous extraction with 

 water, frequently renewed, for several days) the extracts united, con- 

 centrated to a very small volume and precipitated with a large excess 

 of 95 per cent, alcohol. The precipitate of glycogen, etc., was washed 

 with alcohol, dissolved in a small volume of cold water to 100 c. c, 

 sufficient hydrochloric acid added to make the fluid contain 2 per 

 cent. HCl and heated on a water-bath for 15 hours. After neutrali- 

 zation, the volume was made up to 200 c. c. and the sugar determined in 

 25 c. c. of the fluid by Allihn's gravimetric method, and the glycogen 

 calculated therefrom. The liver sugar was determined by evaporating 

 the alcoholic fluid from the glycogen precipitate, dissolving the x'esi- 

 due in a little water, adding sufficient sulphuric acid to make the mix- 



* Ghitteaden and Blake. Studies from Laboratory of Physiological Chemistry, Yale 

 University, vol. ii, p. 94. 



