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PHYSIOLOGY. 



Glandnlar System, For the more complete in- 

 vestigation of the action of diuretics, C. D. F. 

 Phillips and J. Kose Bradford have studied the 

 effects of certain drugs upon the general blood- 

 pressure ; upon the renal circulation (as meas- 

 ured by changes in the volume of the kidney); 

 and upon the renal secretion. Citrate of caf- 

 feine, studied in its action on the general blood- 

 pressure, was found to produce, first a diminu- 

 tion in the force of the heart-beats, with or 

 without a slight acceleration of the rhythm ; 

 and, second, an increase in the force of the 

 heart and a distinct slowing of the rhythm, 

 which is occasionally followed by a slight but 

 persistent acceleration. During the first stage 

 there is a fall of arterial pressure, which re- 

 gains, or may slightly exceed, its normal height 

 during the second stage. In the second phase 

 of the experiments, a contraction of the pe- 

 ripheral vessels of the kidney and spleen took 

 place, which lasted longer than the fall of gen- 

 eral blood-pressure, and was followed by a 

 persistent and marked expansion, greater rela- 

 tively in the kidney than in the spleen ; which 

 expansion in the case of the kidney was accom- 

 panied by a very marked increase in the amount 

 of urine secreted. While the action of caffeine 

 on the circulation was undoubtedly peripheral, 

 it was not clear whether the drug acts on the 

 peripheral nerve structures or on the muscular 

 elements directly. The diuretic effect, as 

 shown by other observers, is complex, and is 

 not entirely dependent on the vascular dilata- 

 tion. The injection of digitaline was followed 

 by a contraction of the kidney, which was usu- 

 ally, but not always, more slow in its course 

 than that described as following the injection 

 of caffeine. The peculiarity of the contraction 

 is its extreme persistence, it enduring frequent- 

 ly for a half an hour, or to the end of the experi- 

 ment ; and it is not followed by any expansion. 

 "While both digitaline and caffeine produce con- 

 striction of the kidney vessels, this is the sole 

 effect of digitaline, and the initiatory effect of 

 caffeine. The two drugs exhibit a marked dif- 

 ference in their action on the secretion. Dur- 

 ing the contraction produced by caffeine the 

 flow is either diminished or frequently arrest- 

 ed ; whereas, with the contraction of digitaline, 

 it is certainly not diminished, and is generally 

 slightly increased. Hence with digitaline we 

 have an example of a drug producing a diuretic 

 effect at the same time that the renal vessels 

 are constricted. 



The researches of De Burgh Birch and Har- 

 ry Sppng, on the secretion of the gall-bladder 

 which is described as a clear and somewhat 

 viscid fluid, in constant flow lead them to in- 

 fer that the secretion can not be regarded as 

 having any important part to play in digestion, 

 the small diastatic action it possesses on starch 

 being shared by many fluids in the economy 

 upon which it does not confer any special di- 

 gestive value. Its use is probably confined to 

 lubricating the walls of the gall-bladder, and 

 it adventitiously adds some mucus to the bile. 



The question whether the secretion of the 

 kidneys normally varies on each side has been 

 studied by Buelzer in a case of vesical ectopia. 

 Iodide of potassium, given by the mouth, ap- 

 peared in the urine from one ureter at a differ- 

 ent time from that of the other side; salicylic 

 acid showed the same difference. Chemical 

 analysis also proved that the proportions of 

 urea, phosphoric acid, and sulphuric acid dif- 

 fered on the two sides. Great differences were 

 observed in the quantity and density of the 

 urine discharged from the two sides respective- 

 ly. This difference leads Buelzer to think that 

 the composition of the blood in the aorta is far 

 from being uniform. 



Peiper concludes, after an elaborate research, 

 that the perspiration is more concentrated 01* 

 the right-hand side of the body. The palm of 

 the hand sweats four times more than the skin 

 of the chest, and the cheeks one and a half time 

 as much. A slow increase in the sweat is felt 

 in the afternoon, which is especially obvious 

 from 8 to 12 o'clock at night, after which the 

 amount diminishes. Feeling has but little in- 

 fluence in this direction. Elevation of the sur- 

 rounding temperature increases the perspira- 

 tion, and variations of the hygrometric state of 

 the atmosphere have an immense influence on 

 the function. The quantity of water evapo- 

 rated in a quarter of an hour from a cutaneous 

 surface 25 centimetres square, in a normal in- 

 dividual is about -176 of a grain. In infants 

 the quantity is generally less than in adults. 

 The weight of the body and sex have no 

 marked influence on the perspiration. 



The results of Dr. Stabrovski's experiments 

 to determine the effects of massage on pulmo- 

 nary and cutaneous exhalation have been dis- 

 cordant. In five out of the fourteen cases ex- 

 perimented upon there was an increase in the 

 pulmono-cutaneous exhalation and a diminu- 

 tion in the amount of urine; in three cases the 

 massage increased the amount of urine and di- 

 minished the pulmono-cutaneous exhalation; 

 and in the remaining six cases both the urine 

 and the pulmono-cutaneous exhalation were 

 increased. The general effect on the pulse was 

 to lower it some ten or fifteen beats. No al- 

 teration appeared to be produced in the rate of 

 respiration. 



Action of Poisons, The supposition has been 

 advanced by Dr. B. "W. Richardson that vari- 

 ous forms of mental and nervous affection may 

 depend for their development on the pres- 

 ence in the body of organic chemical com- 

 pounds, formed and distilled through an un- 

 natural chemical process carried on in the body 

 itself. Amylene, a substance easily formed in 

 vital chemical changes, produces phenomena 

 identical with those of somnambulism, and 

 with some of those of hysteria. Another or- 

 ganic product, called mercaptan or sulphur-al- 

 cohol, causes, when inhaled, symptoms of pro- 

 found melancholy ; and in the process of being 

 eliminated by the breath, it gives to the breath 

 an odor which is identical with that evolved in 



