434 SECOND CLASS OF MINERAL CONSTITUENTS. 



Tiedemann and Gmelin*, and Berzelius agree in stating that the 

 gastric juice is rich in this salt. I found 0*31 !-- of chloride of sodium 

 in the fluid from the crop of a duck which for eight days had been 

 only fed with barley moistened with distilled water. 



That the chloride of sodium, and [the metallic chlorides gene- 

 rally, which are contained in the gastric juice, contribute at all to 

 the solution of the histogenetic substances is not probable ; for, not- 

 withstanding some of my earlier experiments which seemed to sup- 

 port that view, more recent and more numerous experimentst have 

 convinced me that any addition of salt, either to natural or well 

 prepared artificial gastric juice, infallibly retards the changes which 

 the articles of nitrogenous food undergo. We may presume that 

 a definite quantity of the metallic chlorides exists in some form of 

 chemical combination in the gastric juice; this quantity being 

 exactly sufficient to hinder any abnormal decomposition in that 

 fluid, without checking its digestive power. 



In the exudations we certainly find less chloride of sodium than 

 in the blood itself, but in relation to the fixed constituents of these 

 liquids, this salt is always considerably increased. The investiga- 

 tions of Bracket and Henle have proved, almost beyond a doubt, 

 that this abundant transudation of soluble salts through the walls 

 of the vessels is dependent on a purely mechanical relation. It is, 

 however, not improbable that the chloride of sodium cooperates in 

 the metamorphosis of the exudation $ we find, at least, that pus and 

 other exudations in which cells become developed, are very rich in 

 this salt ; and this is especially the case with mucus, as has been 

 shown by Nasse||. The fluid of cancerous growths always contains 

 a large quantity of this salt. Whether the chloride of sodium takes 

 part in the abnormal conversion of the exudation into cells, is a 

 question that must be at present left undecided. We are almost 

 led to the belief that every deposition of cells is accompanied by 

 an increase in the quantity of chloride of sodium, or that this 

 salt arrests their development at a low stage. We find at 

 least that the cartilages, which, in their perfectly developed state 

 abound in cells, contain far more chloride of sodium than occurs 

 in other parts of the animal body. The cartilaginous bones of the 



* Verdauimg. Bd. 1, S. 91. 

 t Ber. d. k. sachs. Gcs. d. Wiss. 1849. 

 $ Casper's Wochensch. 1840, No. 21. 

 Zeitschr. f. rat. Med. Bd, 1, S. 122. 

 || Journ. f. prakt. Ch. Bd. 29, S. 59. 



