578 



PHYSIOLOGY. 



increase in the plasma. In pernicious anaemia the 

 total oxygen capacity was diminished in a marked 

 degree as compared with the normal, as also was 

 the percentage oxygen capacity. The volume of 

 the blood was markedly increased. The decrease 

 in the number of red corpuscles and in the amount 

 of haemoglobin was greater than could be explained 

 by the increase in the volume of the blood. 



In his Hunterian lecture on The Effects of In- 

 fluenza upon the Heart and Circulation, Dr. San- 

 som noticed as the chief disturbances observed the 

 rapid heart, cardiac dilatation, the irregular heart, 

 the slow heart, and pain in the heart, all following 

 or dependent upon the influenzal infection. In 

 connection with the rapid heart other phenomena 

 were observed, such as those associated with 

 (iraves's disease and flatulent dyspepsia, accom- 

 panied in some cases with dyspnrea and a sense of 

 failing heart. These disturbances were termed by 

 the author " vagus storms." They seem to involve 

 all the tracts supplied by the pneumogastric nerve, 

 but in some cases one area disproportionately to 

 the others. 



It was found by Dr. F. W. Mott and Dr. W. D. 

 Halliburton in experiments on anaesthetized ani- 

 mals that the cerebro-spinal fluid, removed some- 

 times after death and sometimes by lumbar punc- 

 ture during life from cases of brain atrophy, and 

 especially from patients suffering from general pa- 

 ralysis of the insane, caused when injected into the 

 vessels a fall of arterial pressure with but a trifling 

 effect upon the respiration. Chemical examination 

 of the fluid showed that it contained nucleo-pro- 

 teid and choline, and further experiments demon- 

 strated thai the effect on the circulation was due 

 to the choline. The authors found every reason 

 to believe that choline proceeds, like the nucleo- 

 proteid, from the acute disintegration of the brain 

 tissue, and they think that some, but not all, 

 of the symptoms of general paralysis are due to 

 auto-intoxication, nucleo-proteid and choline con- 

 tained in the cerebro-spinal fluid being absorbed 

 into the blood. In accordance with this the au- 

 thors have found choline in the blood of general 

 paralytic patients drawn by venesection. When 

 from 1 to 10 cubic centimetres of solutions of cho- 

 line containing 2 parts in 1,000 were injected into 

 the vessels, a temporary fall of blood pressure oc- 

 curred, due partly to the action on the heart, but 

 chiefly to dilatation of the peripheral vessels of 

 the intestinal area, C'holine has little or no action 

 on the nerve trunks, as tested by their electrical re- 

 sponse to stimulation. It was found that intra- 

 venous injection of stated proportions of neurine 

 solution caused a fall of arterial pressure followed 

 by a marked rise and a subsequent fall to the 

 normal level. The typical effects of ncuvine are 

 still obvious after the removal of the influence of 

 the central nervous system by section of the spinal 

 cord or of the splanchnics. But after the action 

 of the peripheral ganglia has been cut off by the 

 influence of nicotine, neurine produces only a fall 

 of blood pressure. It hence appears that the con- 

 st notion of the vessels is due to the action of the 

 drug on the ganglia. Section of the vagi had no 

 influence on the results of injecting either choline 

 or neurine, and there was no evidence that either 

 base acted directly on the cerebral vessels. Unlike 

 oholine, neurine is intensely toxic to nerve trunks. 

 The authors confirm the statement of Corvello, 

 that neurine acts like curare on the nerve endings 

 of voluntary muscle, and that the cessation of 

 respiration is due to this action. 



The ferrocyanide method of determining the 

 oxygen capacity of the haemoglobin of the blood 

 do-orirwd by John Haldane depends on the fact 

 that combined oxygen is liberated rapidly and 



completely on addition of solution of potassium 

 ferrocyanide to laked blood, and may be easily 

 measured. The author affirms that when the 

 fallacies due to incomplete laking of the blood 

 and to the presence of bacteria are eliminated, 

 the method gives exact results. 



Mr. W. H. Thompson, having studied the 

 effects of the intravascular injection of peptone 

 and albumose, has shown that the vessels of the 

 kidney and limbs are but slightly affected, while 

 those of the spleen undergo moderate, and those 

 of the liver considerable, stimulation coincidently 

 with the fall of blood pressure. 



Digestion. The problem of the process by 

 which the materials ingested into the stomach 

 and intestinal canal are absorbed, concerning 

 which various explanations have been offered, is 

 the subject of a memoir in the Philosophical 

 Transactions by Prof. E. Waymouth Reid. The 

 experiments were performed on anaesthetized 

 dogs. Two loops of intestine of equal length were 

 withdrawn from the abdomen and covered during 

 the whole duration of the experiment with cloths 

 wrung out of warm water. The materials in- 

 jected were solutions of serum, peptone, and 

 sugar at the temperature of the body. The main 

 results of the author's inquiry are stated in the 

 propositions that a physiological activity of the 

 intestinal epithelium is demonstrated, first, by 

 the adsorption capable of being effected by the 

 animal of its own serum or even plasma under 

 conditions in which filtration into blood capil- 

 laries or lacteals, osmosis, or absorption, arc 

 excluded; and, second, by the cessation or dimi- 

 nution of the adsorption of serum when the 

 epithelium is removed, in spite of the fact that 

 removal must at any rate increase the facilities 

 for osmosis and infiltration. The word " adsorp- 

 tion " is used by Prof. Reid in the sense of " a 

 simple soakage with some degree of assimilation, 

 a sort of dyeing of the gut membrane " with the 

 solutions. The state of nutrition of the cells is 

 regarded as the main factor in their activity, 

 and this is intimately associated with the blood 

 supply. The activity of the cells was character- 

 ized by a slower uptake of the organic acids of 

 the serum, and a rather quicker uptake of the 

 salts, than of the water. No evidence of the ex- 

 istence of specific absorptive fibers in the mesen- 

 teric nerves was obtained. The bile did not 

 have a stimulant action on the cells. Wink 

 alcohol acted as a stimulant without any con- 

 comitant increase of blood supply being shown. 

 Distilled water was found in the course of the 

 experiments to act very deleteriously upon proto- 

 plasm, a simple washing out with it causing de- 

 tachment of the epithelial cells. It appeared in 

 experiments made with those substances that the 

 chief factor in the absorption of peptone was an 

 assimilation (or "adsorption") by the cells, and 

 in the absorption of glucose, diffusion variable 

 according to the permeability of the cells. 



From a research, upon the digestibility of some- 

 nonnitrogenous constituents of certain feed in;, 

 stuffs, G. S. Fraps finds that sugars occur in al 1 

 feeding stuff's; that they are completely digested 

 as a rule; and that their determination is of espe- 

 cial importance in the case of hays and cotton- 

 seed meal: that the average digestibility of pen- 

 tosans in 34 samples is 04.2, and the average for 

 timothy hay (8 samples) is 53.0. The constitu- 

 ents of the nitrogen-free extract may be arranged 

 in the following order, according to their digesti- 

 bility: (1) sugars; (2) starch; (3) pentosan 

 (bodies which on hydrolysis yield pentosj 

 sugars): (4) residue. The psru<lupont<>>aii< <>f 

 crude fiber are less digestible than the residue. 



