242 fi:vi;k. 



the wIiuIp of the firttt rcmiMion, uiiii of the first rrlii|isf niul Rpcoml romiis.iion, it wns most iliKtinrtl/ 

 «it'ii. thot, Hlicrt-ns during; the rviiiission i! |irri-i'iitiijfu of thf tolul ili><churgc nf Uith alkulict 



Bank to nlniut IS.'JU, it ruse during ond < , ,^ aflcr I'acli criuiA to uliout 00. In the i-agv of 



erysipelas and in the pneumonia cases there wnH a corrpi^pondinf^ relative and absolute increase of 

 '■, dirichurge. Tliere were, Imwcvcr, peeuliurilies in nil llie riihi-8 which huvu been fully 

 I.. i liy the authurs, und ore of Hullieient iniporlunee to re(iuiro notice. 



"Ou the whole, the ubitolutc quantity of potu-Hsiuni diseliargcd ou febrile days is three or four 

 tiiiH" n.H great as on non-febrile. As regurd.s .sndii the re.sultrt are entirely dilTerent. During fever 

 it I- .-een in most of llie tables that the soda (liA'liarge is e.\lremi-ly low. As soon as the crisis is 

 passed it at once begins to increase to such an extent that in one duy utt much soda is eliminated as 

 on all the previous days taken together. Simultaneously the percentage of potash discharge falls 

 to its lowest. 



"The augmentation of potash discharge in fever, when little or no meat is being token, ond its 

 rnpiil decline in defervescence, shows thiit the ougnierited production of urea in fever must take jilace 

 at the expense of some source of uHmniin which contiiins polasli. We have, therefore, in this foct 

 an answer to the question from which we started. The albumin which serves as a source of urco 

 in fever, is not derived from liipior sanguinis (for the licpior sanguinis alx)unds in sodium salts, but 

 contains very little potassium), but cither from the blood corpuscles, or from muscle, or Imth. 



•'Ti)o very remarkable diminution of the dischorge of sodium signifies of course that in fever, the 

 common salt, which constitutes the bulk of the salts of the blood, is retained; for immciliotely after 

 the crisis (as shown most distinctly in three of the cases) it posseil into the urine in great abundance. 



"In ad<lilion to increased excretion of potash there is another circumstance which points to the 

 blood corpuscles or to the muscular tissue as the chief seat of disintegration in fever, namely, the 

 increased discharge of coloring matter. Unfortunately, as regards this moat im])ortant question, 

 suflicieiit information is wanting. There are, to the best of my knowledge, no comparative determi- 

 nations cither of the i)ropi>rlion of blood corpuscles or (what would be as ui^cful) of the iron per- 

 centage of the blood before and after acute fever cither in man or the lower animals. The only facta 

 relating to the subject that I know of arc (1) that in all febrile diseases, the coloring mutter of (he 

 urine, which is probably derived ullinmlely from the blood hieinoglobin, is three or four times as 

 abundant as in health {ttre Ncubaucr and Vogel) ; and (2) that after traumatic fever in dogs, there 

 is a very marked diminution, both of the corpu.sclcs and of the iron of the blood. Hut these observa- 

 tions are quite inade(|uate to serve as a basis for an opinion as to the proportion which the breaking 

 down of blond corpuscles bears to tiic total disintegration of fever. Of the many (|ucstions which 

 rerpiire answering, there is perhaps none which is of greater importance, for if. as appears ]ir<ibublc, 

 the destruction of the colored cor])uscles is a part of the febrile jiroccss, the fact must have a vcrv 

 important bearing, not merely on the process itself, but on its after results. The coloring matter of 

 the blood being the means l>y which oxygen is distributed to the tissues, the destruction of it must 

 impair every function of organic life." 



In ordrr to dotrrniino wliotlirr tliorc is a rliytlim of heat piodqction corrrspond- 

 iiifj to the moniiiifj full and evening rise of jiyinnic fever, the following table has 

 been prepared, showing the records of the last fever day in the six experiments. 

 In eneh rase there was a more or less distinct evening rise of temperature. K\- 

 perinK-nt Ufi, it will be remembered, was performed upon a rabbit; in the other 

 enses dogs were emploved. I'tifortunatelv tlie days were not commenred at the 

 same time", yet a little comparative study will overcome the (hfeet in the table. 



KxrKiiiyKXT 110. F.xrEulvrxT 111. 



Tim. Hr.»T HrrTAL r,w» Ilr»T RrrTAt 



P«<>iiei-Tio!t. TEMrmikTrBB. im" I'lioiiiiTiojt. TrKriiiiTTB*. 



lV»h.) (F«h.) 



\:\ *. M. to f,:i A.M. G9.201 lOfr.92 to 104 11 r. v. to 4 ah. 1.14 194 10.V.4 to 10.1 



7:43 A.M. to 13:43 P.M. 71 fi544 104 9 .'i:" a. m. to 10:7 a.m. 129.2479 104.9 



6:27 P.M. to 11:27 r.M. 137.4203 100.02 to 105.8 10:18 a.m. to 3:18 p. «. 12f. 7«12 lO.I.P.-i 



4:35 p. M. to 9:35 r. jc. 142.84 105 85 to 105.4 



