PHYSIOLOGY. 



631 



that the alkaloid is in n nascent condition in the 

 ullmmoso molecule. The bacillus form* tin- al- 

 kaloid from tin' aHuiim-ii. and it is possible that 

 the living tissues have a similar action when the 

 albuinoM- is introduced into a living animal. 



Nutrition. Of experiments on nutrition 

 carried out on men under the direction of Dr. 

 Van Noorden, one set established the fact that 

 nitrogenous waste, in the case of diabetes, can 

 be most definitely lessened by the ingestion of 

 large quantities of carbohydrates. Fats can not 

 take the place of these carbohydrates. Another 

 set of experiments showed that when carbohy- 

 drates are given in increasing quantities over a 

 prolonged period to a person in nitrogenous and 

 calorimetric equilibrium, they lead for the most 

 part to a storage of fat (95 p'er cent.), and to a 

 less extent of proteid (5 per cent.). The author 

 is of the opinion that this proteid is laid on the 

 living cell as a sort of nonliving reserve proteid. 

 A third set of experiments showed that when 

 the food of a fat person is diminished to the 

 requirements of a seven-to-ten-year-old child, 

 then any increase of its proteid constituents 

 leads to a storage of proteid with a simultane- 

 ously considerable loss of fat. Experiments 

 upon the respiratory interchange of the person 

 experimented upon showed that the intake of 

 oxygen had been reduced to a minimum, and 

 that the respiratory quotient was 0'7. The last 

 set of experiments, made upon a gouty person, 

 showed that with a constant diet the ratio of 

 intake and output of nitrogen was very variable, 

 at one time a large amount of nitrogen being 

 retained in the body, while at another time 

 much more nitrogen was excreted than was 

 given with the food. 



An account of part of the experiments on the 

 nutrition of fasting men carried on by him and 

 other observers was given by Dr. J. Munk, in the 

 Physiological Society of Berlin, March 3. The 

 same observers having some years ago made ex- 

 periments on the fasting man Cetti. the outcome 

 of which did not accord with the results of ex- 

 periments made on dogs, they had more recently 

 experimented again over a period of six days on 

 another fasting man Breithaupt. This man's 

 nutrition was followed for several days on an 

 ordinary diet before the period of fasting, and 

 again after the fast had ended. The patient 

 was allowed as much water as he wished during 

 the fast. The output of nitrogen sank slowly 

 and continuously during the whole period of 

 fasting. The urinary phenol increased in amount 

 up to the fourth day, and then sank to a mini- 

 mum. Indol was found only in traces, and ace- 

 tone was absent. The amount of chlorine and 

 of alkali diminished progressively, and continued 

 below the normal even after food was once more 

 taken. The urine contained a large quantity of 

 phosphoric acid, lime, and magnesia. Concern- 

 ing the respiratory interchange, according to 

 Prof. Zuntz, the intake of oxygen when at rest 

 was the same as that of a normally fed person 

 twelve hours after a meal. The respiratory quo- 

 tient, varying from 0-66 to 0-69, was less than 

 that due to the oxidation of fats alone or of pro- 

 teids alone. During the fast the patient's power 

 in turning a wheel against friction was the same 

 as that observed when feeding, but fatigue set 

 in much sooner, and was most marked in the 



cardiac muscles. During the earlier days of the 

 fast the consumption of oxygen when "working 

 wa- the same as for a normal person, but later 

 on it became greater. The after effects of work 

 lasted longer than when food was taken. The 

 speaker regarded the extremely low respiratory 

 quotient during the fast as possibly due to tin- 

 splitting up of the proteids into glycogen and 

 some other substance, which was then oxidized 

 and gave rise to the small quotient observed. 

 This view was supported by experiments made 

 by Dr. Vogelius on the construction of carbo- 

 hydrates in the fasting body. 



Experiments by L. E. Shore to ascertain the 

 fate of peptone when introduced into the lym- 

 phatic system, and to determine whether lymph 

 cells can assimilate it or not, have shown that 

 when injected into the bile duct peptone partly 

 passes into the blood, and a certain amount into 

 the urine ; when injected slowly into the blood 

 it is excreted in the urine ; if the renal vessels 

 are tied, it passes from the blood into the Ivmph ; 

 injected quickly into the blood, it may be in part 

 excreted in the urine, but is chiefly thrown out 

 into the lymph, and if the renal vessels are tied 

 is thrown out of the blood into the lymph, and 

 from the lymph in the tissues of the body is 

 gradually carried to the thoracic duct, and then 

 enters the blood again. Further, it was found 

 that peptone introduced into the lymphatic sys- 

 tem can be recovered unchanged ; that the cells 

 of lymphatic glands have not the power to as- 

 similate peptone ; that the cells of the spleen do 

 not take up or transform it ; that the liver can 

 take no part in the normal transformation of 

 peptone, and that the normal transformation of 

 peptone is effected by the epithelial cells of the 

 intestinal mucous membrane. 



Differences having been remarked by many 

 observers in the phenomena of diffusion between 

 two liquids separated by an animal membrane, 

 according as the membrane has been recently re- 

 moved from the living body or has had time to 

 undergo post-mortem changes, E. Waymouth 

 Reid has made a more careful study of the sub- 

 ject. He finds that the normal direction of 

 easier osmotic transference of fluid through the 

 living skin of the frog is from the outer toward 

 the inner surface ; that the transference of fluid 

 through the skin in this direction is intimately 

 associated with the physiological condition of its 

 tissues ; conditions or agents tending to depress 

 vitality diminish the transfer in the normal di- 

 rection, while stimulants give rise to augmenta- 

 tion ; that the cause of the easier transference of 

 fluid from the outer toward the inner surface 

 is probably to be found in the existence of an 

 absorptive force dependent on protoplasmic 

 activity, and comparable to the secretive force 

 of the gland cell ; and that, in consequence of 

 the absorptive force acting from without in- 

 ward, an alteration of the relations of the sur- 

 faces of the skin to the two fluids used in an 

 osmosis experiment modifies the rapidity of the 

 transfer of fluid from one to the other side of 

 the membrane, according as the force exerted by 

 the living tissues is with or against the osmotic 

 stream. 



In experiments by E. B. Poulton to determine 

 whether the colors of certain lepidopterous larvae 

 are partly due to modified plant pigments de- 



