IM1V 



735 



walls. A distinction which he marks between 

 blond lymph and tissue lymph affords a i.<-\\ 

 n contract In that which regards all kinds 

 of lymph as exudations of blood-plasma. The 

 great importance nf the part played by calcium 

 salts in the processes of coagulation has been 

 set forth I iy the careful researches of linger, 

 Wright, and' Salisbury in England, and Arthus 

 and Pap's in France. In tho physiology of the 

 nervous .syMem. Kamon y Cajal and Kollicker 

 have more folly demonstrated the non-continuity 

 of sensory nerve tiliers with nerve cells. Aceord- 

 iiiLC t their researches, nervous impulses pass by 

 mere contact rather than through anatomically 

 continuous channels to the cells. Nothing defi- 

 nite is yet advanced in regard to the true expla- 

 nation of the connection between pancreatic 

 disease or extirpation anil diabetes. The pan- 

 creas appears to have other functions than that 

 of a manufactory of pancreatic juice; and the 

 kidney seems to have other uses than the secre- 

 tion of urine, and to play some important part 

 in the metabolic cycle. 



Circulation. The investigations of Haycraft 

 on the cause of the first sound of the heart-beat 

 present results favoring the supposition that it is 

 valvular or has a valvular element. While admit- 

 ting that the contracting ventricle may produce 

 a sound, the author maintains that it is a reso- 

 nance sound. The heart-sounds appear to be 

 higher in pitch than the sounds produced by 

 contracting skeletal muscles, or by the muscular 

 tissue of the pulsating but bloodless heart itself. 

 The two heart-sounds were found to vary some- 

 what in pitch even in the same species, but to 

 be always in the bass clef, and separated by a 

 minor third, or by an impure minor third, from 

 one another. Upoli the whole question, the 

 author concludes that the first heart-sound is 

 " an impure musical note, a minor third below 

 the second sound, and in the bass clef. It is a 

 valvular sound, like the second sound. It is 

 accompanied by resonance tones of the chest, 

 the stethoscope, and the ear, these tones being 

 produced by the shock of the contracting heart. 

 In addition to this, it is of course possible that 

 there may be concomitant sounds produced by 

 the rushing of the blood and other minor dis- 

 turbances." 



It has been found by H. N. Martin that while 

 the isolated heart of the cat may be cooled down 

 to a temperature of 16'5 C., and yet not be 

 killed if soon warmed again, it usually dies at 

 about 17 or 18 C. The cooling is accompa- 

 nied by a slowing of the pulse. When the tem- 

 perature is slowly and gradually raised, the 

 lethal or maximum temperature is found to lie 

 usually between 44-5 and 45 C. Before this is 

 reached, an optimum temperature is passed at 

 about 41-3 C-, at which the beat is quickest, 

 although it may not be the temperature for 

 doing the most work. By care it is possible to 

 adapt the heart to higher temperatures. If the 

 blood be cooled somewhat, as soon as the heart 

 shows any signs of weakness the temperature 

 may then be often raised to a still higher point 

 without causing any weakening of the heart; 

 and in this way we may raise both the maxi- 

 mum and the optimum temperatures. 



Prom their studies on the coagulation of the 

 blood and its dependence on calcium salts, Ar- 



thus and Pages have found that conciliation 

 may U prevented by the addition "f >. 

 fluorides, or soaps; that as this pro'-edim- may 

 an impending coagulation or interrupt 

 one already begun, it i> inferred that tli. -alts do 

 not prevent the formation of the ferment ; that 

 the action is due to a decalciflcation, or, in other 

 words, the presence of soluble calcium com- 

 pounds is essential to coagulation, and anything 

 which removes them hinder* that process' The 

 calcium salts may be replaced by those of stron- 

 tium, but not. by salts of barium or magm-Minn ; 

 that fibrin is a calcium compound; and that the 

 process is not a transformation of the fibriimgen 

 into a substance capable of uniting with calcium 

 salts to form an insoluble compound, for the 

 coagulation is not instantaneous. 



The experiments of L. E. Shore on the effect 

 of peptone on the clotting of blood and lymph 

 lead to results opposed to the conclusions of 

 Funo, that, as far as the clotting power is con- 

 cerned, lymph always goes hand in hand with the 

 blood, and to his deduction from this, that the 

 lymnh is completely dependent on the blood, and 

 produced from it by a physical diffusion. Mr. 

 Shore records experiments in which he obtained 

 a condition when blood clotted normally, and 

 lymph did not. _, 



Concerning the character of the blood- flow 

 into, the heart during diastole. II. X. Martin has 

 found that when the aspiration of the thorax has 

 been eliminated, the right auricle of the mam- 

 malian heart will not receive blood unless it is 

 supplied by a decided, if small, positive pressure. 

 Sucn suction-pump action as may be exerted by 

 the heart in the closed thoracic cavity is not due 

 directly to its active expanding force, but is the 

 secondary result of the pneumatic conditions 

 prevailing within the cavity. Any cause dimin- 

 ishing thoracic aspiration must therefore hinder 

 the work of the heart ; and it is probably more 

 in this manner that the circulation is impeded in 

 certain cases of hydro- or pneumo-thorax than 

 by direct pressure exerted upon the heart it.-elf. 



Microscopical examinations by MM. Locuy 

 and Puiseux of preparations of peritoneal se- 

 rum showed the presence of red globules of 

 blood (ha-matics), whatever precautions were 

 taken. The globules are therefore regarded as a 

 normal element, physiological, not accidental, of 

 the serum. Colorless spherical lymphatic cells, 

 having dimensions from 20 /* to 100 p. are also 

 described in the authors' paper. The volume, 

 structure, and reactions of those cells from the 

 three animals experimented upon (the domestic 

 rabbit, the rat, and the cat) are found to vary. 



S. Monekton Copeman gives as the methods 

 with which he has been succe.-sful in demon- 

 strating the formation of crystals of haemoglobin 

 in human blood: the addition to the blood of 

 decomposing serum or pericardia! fluid; treat- 

 ment with bile; agitation with ether: semi-di- 

 gestion in the stomach of the common leech of 

 which the first is the only one to be recommended 

 as being invariably successful. Specimens made 

 inthis wayappear io be permanent. Honpe-Seyler 

 has also obtained ho-'iuochromogen in the crystal- 

 line form. 



The principle of a new method of determining 

 the velocity of the blood, demonstrated by I>r. (i. 

 N. Stewart', consi-ts in impressing upon the blood 



