690 



PHYSIOLOGY. 



and it appears that, whenever the fat is given 

 up, the cells regain their original character, and 

 become, in the one case, simply branched or 

 pigment cells, and, in the other case, special or 

 migratory cells. It is also indicated that the 

 cells, except when too fully gorged with fat, 

 can perform, in part at least, their proper func- 

 tions. 



THE ACTION OF ANTI-FEBRILE DRUGS ON 

 BODILY TEMPERATURE. Drs. H. 0. Wood and 

 E. T. Reichert have published the results of 

 fifty experiments which they have made to de- 

 termine the exact nature of the action of anti- 

 febrile remedies. The bodily temperature is the 

 result of the play between the two antagonistic 

 functions of the production and the dissipation 

 of heat, and the point to be ascertained in the 

 experiments was to determine to which of 

 these functions the remedies tested contrib- 

 uted. In seven experiments with quinine the 

 production and dissipation were both increased, 

 and in all but one of them in which both 

 effects were equal the increase in dissipation 

 was much more decided than was that in pro- 

 duction. In two of three experiments with 

 cinchona sulphate, dissipation was more in- 

 creased than production. The same was the 

 case in two trials with cinchonidia sulphate, 

 while the inverse took place in one trial. In 

 fourteen experiments with potash salts (ex- 

 cluding the nitrites) both functions were stim- 

 ulated, equally in two, while in six dissipation, 

 and in the other six production, was more 

 stimulated. The differences were so small in 

 all the cases that the varying results may be 

 attributed to accidental and uncontrollable in- 

 fluences. A slight increase in the production 

 of heat was observed in two experiments with 

 potassium nitrite, to which, however, the au- 

 thors do not attach much importance, on ac- 

 count of the transient nature of the effect. 

 "With caffeine, the increase of production ap- 

 peared to be slightly greater than that of dis- 

 sipation. With alcohol, the average increase 

 in five experiments was the same in both func- 

 tions, a result in close accord with that which 

 Dr. Bevan Lewis has obtained with a different 

 instrument. The authors do not assume that 

 anything is proved by their experiments ex- 

 cept that "at present we have no sufficient 

 evidence as to whether it is heat production or 

 heat dissipation that is primarily" affected by 

 the cinchona alkaloids, alcohol, or the potash 

 salts ; and that to attempt to reason until the 

 next step is taken by solid experimental re- 

 search is to abandon firm ground for the cloud- 

 land of speculation." 



INFLUENCE OF ACID ON SALIVARY DIGESTION. 

 The investigation of the influence of peptone 

 and of certain acids and salts on the digestive 

 action of saliva has been continued by Messrs. 

 Chittenden and Ely, of the Sheffield Scientific 

 School, and Messrs. Langley and Eves, of Cam- 

 bridge, England. Messrs. Chittenden and Gris- 

 wold had found in previous experiments that 

 human mixed saliva in the presence of an equal 



volume of artificial gastric juice, containing .05 

 per cent of hydrochloric acid, is capable of 

 forming from a given quantity of starch a much 

 larger amount of sugar than the same quantity 

 of saliva alone can do under a like degree of 

 dilution ; a result that is the more remarkable 

 when it is remembered that the same per cent 

 of acid by itself greatly retards the diastatic 

 action. More recent experiments by Messrs. 

 Chittenden and Ely go to show, that while 

 particular products of digestion may exercise a 

 retarding influence upon the action of the fer- 

 ment which has generated them, by clogging 

 it, that is not necessarily the case when the 

 product of one digestive process is associated 

 with a different allied ferment ; and that pep- 

 tones, a product of gastric digestion, exercise a 

 decided influence on salivary digestion, stimulat- 

 ing the ferment to increased action, particularly 

 in the presence of acid, which of itself com- 

 pletely prevents the conversion of starch into 

 sugar. The experiments from which this view 

 was deduced were first made with peptones in 

 simple aqueous solution, in which condition it 

 appeared that, when they were present to the 

 extent of from 1 to 2 per cent, they caused an 

 increased conversion of starch into sugar, 

 amounting on an average to 4 per cent. The 

 stimulating action of the peptones was clearly 

 not due to the inorganic salts contained in them, 

 for the latter were shown to have, by them- 

 selves, in aqueous solution, a retarding influ- 

 ence. When the peptones were tested in an 

 acid solution of the strength of .025 per cent, 

 their presence in the proportion of 1 per cent 

 was found to exercise a very remarkable influ- 

 ence on the diastatic action of the saliva, and 

 to increase the conversion of starch by 7 per 

 cent. Increasing the amount of peptones to 2 

 per cent did not seem to have any effect in 

 modifying the result ; and, in acid solutions of 

 increased strength, the peptones appeared to 

 exercise but slight, if any, influence. The ques- 

 tion was next examined, how far inorganic 

 salts could influence the action of the ferment 

 in an acid solution of .025 per cent. Sodium 

 chloride and phosphate, when present to the 

 extent of .012 per cent, were found to exercise 

 but a very slight influence, while calcium phos- 

 phate decidely increased the diastatic action a 

 result which may help explain the value of the 

 calcium phosphate invariably present in wheat 

 and other grains. Experiments with alkaline 

 solutions showed that the presence of the pep- 

 tones also favors the digestive process when 

 they are in question, while inorganic salts play, 

 as in the other instances, but an unimportant 

 part in it. 



The experiments of Messrs. Chittenden and 

 Griswold in 1881 have appeared to show that 

 the diastatic action of saliva was increased by 

 the presence of very minute quantities (.005 per 

 cent) of hydrochloric acid, but that an increase 

 of the percentage of the acid was accompanied 

 by a diminution of the action, till it stopped, 

 when the amount of acid reached .025 per cent. 





