RESULTS OF THE EXPERIMENTS. 



In the foregoing I have discussed the elements of the separate 

 experimental series in the order in which, for practical reasons, 

 they occur in the tables; in now giving an account of the results 

 of the experiments it will be more suited to the purpose if I choose 

 a different order. And since there is general agreement, that the 

 function of the respiratory centre is regulated by the carbonic acid 

 tension of the blood, it seems most natural to begin this section 

 with a discussion of the alveolar tension and the light thrown upon 

 it by the experiments; I assume here provisionally with Haldane 

 that the variations in the alveolar carbonic acid tension may be 

 considered as an "index" of the changes in the tension occurring 

 in the centre. 



The alveolar carbonic acid tension. 



To facilitate the summary the results from the single experi- 

 mental series are brought together here, only the equivalents in 

 mm. of mercury being given however, not the percentage of carbo- 

 nic acid, concerning which reference may be made to the tables. 



To be able to compare my results with the values given in the 

 English papers, which were obtained by direct determination of the 

 alveolar air by Haldane's method, it has to be remembered that 

 these last will always be somewhat higher, ca. 3 mm., than the 

 corresponding results in my series. In February 1909 my alveolar 

 carbonic acid tension was in Copenhagen: 



calculated from Bohr's formula 342 mm. 

 determined by Haldane's method 373 — 



The last is the average of a series of mean values, obtained 

 from twin-determinations according to the method already described. 



Before going on to a close analysis of the experimental results, 

 I may briefly mention some of the more recent literature, which is 

 of interest in this connection. 



