PHYSIOLOGY. 



649 



in amount, is on an average about 5 per cent, of the 

 liver >ul>staiice : that after extraction with ether, a 

 certain amount of fatty acids remains in combina- 

 tion with liases as soaps or under other conditions; 

 that the fatty acids constitute roughly about 3 per 

 cent, of the liver; that fats may be transported and 

 accumulated, and also produced, in the liver; that 

 they do not undergo the same simple transforma- 

 tion when accumulated in it that glycogen does; 

 that when accumulated in the liver they disappear 

 either by being carried from the organ or by being 

 metabolized in the organ ; and that some of the 

 fatty acids are linked with phosphorus and cholin 

 to form lecithin, and this lecithin is a forerunner 

 of the nucleo-compounds of the body. The liver 

 thus seems to have the function of utilizing and 

 economizing the phosphorus in the body by com- 

 bining it with fatty acids as a stage in its recon- 

 version to nuclein compounds. Other facts point 

 to the formation of the fatty acids from the glyco- 

 gen. The addition of an excess of a proteid to the 

 food does not lead to an accumulation of fat in the 

 liver. 



Experiments described by Dr. Pavy as having 

 been made with reference to the formation of sugar 

 in the liver after death bear upon the two opposite 

 views Dr. Pavy's own. that the process is the con- 

 verse of what takes place during life, when the 

 vital activity of the liver protoplasm produces a 

 dehydration' of carbohydrate matter by transform- 

 ing sugar into glycogen. and the view held by some 

 physiologists that the transformation of glycogen 

 into sugar is yet an act of vitality due to a continu- 

 ance for a time of molecular life. The conversion 

 being readily effected by ferment action, the author 

 holds it superfluous to invoke such action to account 

 for the process continuing after death. The experi- 

 ments of Dr. Pavy with the livers of animals re- 

 cently killed appear to support his views, and he 

 has formulated his conclusions by saying that the 

 amount of sugar in a liver taken without any spe- 

 cial precautions to insure rapidity of manipulation 

 is considerable : that which is present in a liver 

 removed with rapidity immediately after death and 

 at once plunged into" a freezing mixture, and thus 

 exposed to a temperature which would suspend 

 both vital and ferment actions, is small. The sac- 

 charine condition of the liver taken after death by 

 ordinary methods is thus seen to be due to a post- 

 mortem" change. The fact that in liver substance 

 treated with alcohol, dried, and powdered, a con- 

 siderable production of sugar can take place under 

 suitable conditions of moisture and temperature is 

 a proof that the change is not due to vital but to 

 ferment action, a conclusion which considerations 

 drawn from the nature of the chemical change ren- 

 dered probable a priori. 



The experiments of Wroblewski in his investiga- 

 tion of the influence of various acids and pepsin in 

 promoting the digestion of proteids. especially 

 casein, were made with 12 acids, all reduced to the 

 same strength. The author found that the pepsin 

 of the child, dog. and pig differ in their behavior 

 with different acids, and are therefore not identi- 

 cal ; that oxalic acid is the most active, and is fol- 

 lowed by hydrochloric acid ; and that some alka- 

 loids, especially caffeine, materially assist the 

 digestion of proteids. 



Experiments by \V. D. Halliburton and T. Gregor 

 Brodie show that the pancreatic juice obtained 

 through temporary pancreatic fistula 3 from dogs 

 produces a change in the caseinogen of milk which 

 differs from the action 01 rennet in that the pre- 

 cipitate of casein occurs in the warm bath (from 

 35 to 40 : C.) in the form of a fine granular precipi- 

 tate, the milk, to the naked eye. undergoing no 

 change in its fluidity. On cooling this to the tem- 



perature of the air, it sets in a coherent curd, which 

 contracts to only a small extent, and is a_ 

 broken up into fine granules by warming to :;:, 

 the milk, to the naked eye. becoming again fluid. 

 This may be repeated a great number of til 

 The phenomenon of pancreatic precipitatii i 

 moreover, not prevented but only slightly hindered 

 by such an addition of potassium oxalate as com- 

 pletely inhibits the activity of rennet. The experi- 

 ments performed with extracts of the gland lead to 

 similar results, which may be marked if the action 

 of the tryptic ferment is very energetic. The pre- 

 cipitate produced, provisionally termed " pancreatic 

 casein," can by the action of rennet be converted 

 into true casein. Its solubilities are partly like 

 those of caseinogen. partly like those of casein. 



The results of experiments by Arthur Emunds 

 on rennet and the coagulation of milk indicates 

 that a small quantity of milk-curdling ferment can 

 be obtained from other tissues and organs than the 

 stomach as the testis, liver, lung, muscle, kidney, 

 spleen, thymus. thyroid, brain, blood, small intes- 

 tine, and ovary. Xo evidence was found that ca- 

 sein can be converted into caseinogen and reco- 

 agulated by rennin. The apparent recoagulation 

 obtained by Peters is supposed to be due to calci- 

 um salts present in the rennet extract ; so also the 

 coagula of alkali albumin by rennin obtained by 

 Peters is referred by the author to the presence of 

 calcium salts in the rennet essence. Peptone has a 

 marked retarding effect on coagulation, which may 

 be partly, at least, neutralized by the addition of 

 calcium chloride. Casein is soluble in ammonium 

 oxalate without being reconverted into caseinogen. 

 Grimaux's collolde axpa/'tiijue was found to have 

 no action on milk coagulation. 



In experiments upon the influence of alcoholic 

 drinks on the chemical processes of digestion, Drs. 

 Chittenden and Mendel found that alcohol and 

 liquors in very small quantities stimulated diges- 

 tion or did not retard, but checked its activity when 

 given in larger proportions: from which they con- 

 clude that "whisky can be considered to impede 

 the solvent action of the gastric juice only when 

 taken immoderately and in intoxicating quanti- 

 ties." 



Speaking, in the Berlin Physiological Society, on 

 reported cases of presumed regeneration of the bile 

 duct some twenty days after its extirpation. Dr. 

 Rosenberg mentioned a case of a lateral branch 

 from the duct, recently observed in a dog and lead- 

 ing to the intestine, and urged that the possible 

 existence of a branch should in every case be dis- 

 proved before concluding that a regeneration of the 

 duct has taken place. 



Glandular System. As indications of the im- 

 portance of the suprarenal capsules Pettit dwells 

 on their derivation at a very early period from the 

 germinal epithelium of the coelum and their inti- 

 mate relation with the great vascular trunks of the 

 abdomen. In the amphibia there is a suprarenal 

 portal system. It is. the author thinks, probably 

 to be ranked with the thyroid body : and its secre- 

 tion is internal and demonstrable by histological 

 processes. Gourfein shows the great influence of 

 these capsules on the general nutrition of the body, 

 and says that the retention of one is sufficient to 

 preserve life, while, like the thyroid gland, they act 

 chemically upon the organism. Szymonowicz has 

 found that extracts of "the adrenals cause strong 

 contraction of the arteries with corresponding rise 

 in the blood pressure, which is augmented after 

 section of the vagus. 



Two proteids have been found by Hutchison in 

 the thyroid gland, one of which, small in quantity. 

 is a nucleo-albumin, while the other is a colloid, 

 contains phosphorous and iodine, and is in large 



