666 



PHYSIOLOGY. 



doses of quinine were administered, with the 

 result that during the time it was given, and 

 for a day afterward, the output of nitrogen was 

 markedly lessened, but later on rose again to 

 its initial value. Phosphorus showed the same 

 tailing off as did the nitrogen, whereas uric acid 

 was lessened only in the period subsequent to 

 the administration of quinine. Under the action 

 of the drug the leucocytes diminished in num- 

 ber, but increased again later on. Careful in- 

 vestigation of the respiratory interchange showed 

 a very slight but distinctly increased consump- 

 tion of oxygen, probably explainable by the in- 

 creased ventilation of the lungs while the drug 

 was taken in. This fell again subsequently to 

 its normal magnitude. 



Prof. Wey mouth Reid has given an account 

 of the alteration in the mucous membrane of 

 the lateral pouches of the pigeon's crop, which 

 is associated with the breeding season of the 

 bird, and resulted in the formation of masses of 

 fat-holding material constituting what is called 



milk. The secretion of this material is 



in its histological features analogous to the for- 

 mation of sebum in the sebaceous glands, the 

 fat being contained in cells that are cast off in 

 mass from the mucous surface. The material is 

 used for feeding the young pigeons, and when 

 analyzed is found to contain from 7 to 9 per 

 cent, of fat and from 12 to 15 per cent, of pro- 

 teids, the chief of which is nucleo-albumin. 

 Unlike true milk, it contains no sugar, but 

 among its proteids is a caseinogen which clots 

 with rennet with or without the addition of cal- 

 cic chloride. 



A part of the presidential address of Prof. E. 

 A. Schafer before the physiological section of 

 the British Association is devoted to the con- 

 sideration of the important influence exercised 

 by minute and apparently insignificant organs 

 ' next to nothings " on physiological functions. 

 Prominent among the factors of this kind is the 

 central or attraction particle, the office of which 

 is described in another part of this article. 

 Among others are certain organs the functions 

 of which are very obscure, of which examples 

 are found in the ductless glands. Not all of 

 these glands, it is true, are obscure in function, 

 for some of them seem very obviously devoted 

 to the formation of corpuscles in the blood. But 

 for others it has not hitherto been possible to 

 find any material in the blood which they have 

 furnished to it. Extensive disease of the thyroid 

 gland is followed by extensive alterations in the 

 nutrition of the body, with swellings, nervous 

 and muscular affections, modification of the 

 power of generating heat, semi-idiocy, and, 

 finally, in extreme cases, death. Similar results 

 have been found in animals. Yet the weight of 

 this organ is not more than one sixteen hun- 

 dredth part of the whole weight of the body: 

 and it is found that even if a minute part of the 

 gland be left while the greater part is removed 

 the symptoms described do not supervene. Even 

 minute detached particles that lie apart from 

 the main organ in some persons are sufficient, 

 if they escape removal, to carry on the functions 

 of the organ and ward off the dangerous symp- 

 toms. Disease of the suprarenal capsules 

 small bodies close to the kidneys, but having no 

 known connection with them is accompanied 



by ultimately fatal bodily disorders, and their 

 removal is followed by death; yet their weight 

 is to that of the whole body as 1 to 6,000 or less. 

 On the other hand, large results are obtained by 

 the administration of minute doses of thyroid 

 extract, and equally striking results of a dis- 

 tinctive character by giving likewise minute 

 doses of suprarenal extract. Another illustra- 

 tion of the principle under consideration is 

 found in the pancreas, a gland with a duct, the 

 office of which is one of digestion. When it is 

 removed the metabolic process of digestion is de- 

 ranged, and diabetes is produced, but this result 

 does not occur if a very small part of the gland is 

 left. The lesson is drawn from these facts that 

 there is no organ of the body, however small, 

 however seemingly unimportant, which we can 

 presume to neglect, for it may be, as with the 

 suprarenal capsule, the thyroid gland, and the 

 pancreas, that the balance 'of assimilation and 

 nutrition, upon the 'proper maintenance of 

 which the health of the whole organism immedi- 

 ately depends, hinges upon the integrity of such 

 obscure structures. Nor, as the investigation of 

 the attraction particle has shown, can we afford 

 to disregard the most minute detail of structure 

 of the body. 



In the investigation of a case of leucaemia, 

 Drs. Jacob and Kriiger, of Berlin, found that an 

 increase in the nitrogen of the uric acid and 

 nuclein bases of the urine is associated with the 

 increase in the number of leucocytes. After in- 

 jection of an extract of spleen, first a decrease, 

 and then an increase, in the number of leuco- 

 cytes was observed. In proportion to the in- 

 crease of the leucocytes an increase occurred in 

 the quantity of urine excreted, and in the amount 

 of uric acid and nuclein bases. When after 

 some days the number of leucocytes decreased, 

 the quantity of urine, of uric acid, and of nu- 

 clein bases also diminished. 



Nervous System. Growing old in the 

 higher animals being regarded as a normal 

 pliysiological process, accompanied in every tis- 

 sue by normal histological changes, Prof. C. F. 

 Hodge has endeavored to determine the exact 

 nature of these changes in nervous tissue. He 

 put under observation the cerebrum, cerebellum, 

 cervical cord, and first cervical ganglion of a man 

 dying of old age, uncomplicated by visible signs 

 of disease, at ninety-two years ; the first cervical 

 ganglion of a male foetus killed by accident of 

 birth ; portions of cerebrum, cerebellum, and 

 first cervical ganglion of a man killed by accident 

 at the age of forty-seven : and supercesophageal 

 ganglia of a number of old honey bees prepared 

 side by side with brains of the same number of 

 young bees taken as they emerged from the 

 brood cells. In the human cerebrum at ninety- 

 two years of age no pronounced abnormity 

 was detected. If degenerative changes were 

 present they did not involve a sufficiently large 

 proportion of cells to strike one in ordinary 

 study of the sections. The cells of Purkinje ap- 

 peared considerably shrunken, and were 25 per 

 cent, fewer than in sections struck from the 

 cerebellum of the middle aged man. A failure 

 of the nucleolus in the cells of the spinal ganglia 

 to stain with osmic a,cid was observed in the old 

 man, and coupled with this was the condition of 

 the nucleus, considerably shrunken and with 



