(UO 



PHYSIOLOGY. 



and of rhanmose about 14 per cent. ; while the re- 

 mainder was eliminated unchanged. When these 

 pentoses were injected by the mouth, a larger 

 portion was disposed of, and the possibility was 

 suggested that this sugar may be to some extent de- 

 stroyed or altered in the stomach. Of the disaccha- 

 roses, cane sugar and milk were completely excreted 

 as such by the kidneys ; and since, when taken into 

 the stomach, they are both used up to a greater or 

 less extent, the conclusion is obvious that only the 

 intestine is competent to effect their decomposition 

 and render them serviceable. On the other hand, 

 the third disaccharide, maltose, was completely dis- 

 posed of when injected subcutaneously. Trehalose, 

 which is isomeric with maltose, was retained in the 

 body to the extent only of 85 per cent. These re- 

 sults agree well with those of E. Fischer on the 

 action of blood serum on the different kinds of 

 sugars outside of the body. They also show that 

 the aldehyde nature of the different sugars does 

 not form "a measure of their destructibility, since 

 milk sugar, in spite of its aldehyde nature, is not 

 destroyed, while trehalose, which is not an aldehyde, 

 is, and further, that the greater or less facility of 

 the breaking up of a disaccharide does not coincide 

 with corresponding behavior in the body. Thus, 

 cane sugar, which inverts easily, passes unchanged 

 through the body, while the contrary holds for tre- 

 halose. Raffinose, which is a trisaccharide, was 

 found in two experiments to be destroyed to about 

 35 per cent., while it is unaffected by blood serum 

 outside the body. The 'portion not destroyed re- 

 appeared in the urine as raffinose. Of the poly- 

 saccharides, so called, glycogen was completely de- 

 stroyed so that it did not reappear in the urine 

 either as glycogen or as sugar. Achroodextrin, 

 erythrodextrin, and amylodextrin (soluble starch) 

 were used up in the body to the extent of about 

 75 per cent, of the quantity subcutaneously injected. 

 M. Voit expresses the opinion that just as in Fisch- 

 er's experiments outside the body, in order to effect 

 thorough fermentation of sugar, its antecedent split- 

 ting up into inono-saccharides is necessary, so the 

 animal economy is not able to burn off the higher 

 sugars until they have been broken up into their 

 components. 



Arsenic is known to have a remarkable effect in 

 increasing the number of red blood corpuscles, in 

 some cases of pernicious anaemia, of leucaemia, and 

 of lymphadenoma, although the blood condition in 

 these diseases is often not perceptibly improved by 

 its administration ; and similar effects are observed 

 in other diseases in which it has been administered. 

 In chlorotic anaemia, where it is given along with 

 iron, it does not appear when given alone to pro- 

 duce this effect : and in health it is incapable of in- 

 creasing the number of red corpuscles above the 

 physiological maximum a fact which is equally 

 true of all other tonic or dietetic measures. An in- 

 vestigation made by Ralph Stockman and E. D. W. 

 Greig, with the aid of a grant from the British Med- 

 ical Association, was undertaken with a view to the 

 explanation of the effects of arsenic on blood-cor- 

 puscle formation in those diseases in which it has 

 proved of value clinically. The experiments, made 

 upon young and adult rabbits and upon young dogs, 

 point very conclusively to a stimulation of the bone 

 marrow as the method of action of arsenic as a 

 hsematinic in pernicious an;rmia and other morbid 

 conditions. In these cases, however, although it 

 may increase the number of blood corpuscles, it does 

 not, so far as the authors can see, affect the real 

 cause of the disease. It must therefore be regarded 

 as a purely symptomatic method of treatment. 



The leucocytes of the blood of dogs into whose 

 veins minute quantities of mercuric perchloride 

 had been injected when examined by M. Henry 



Stassano showed, after careful separation, the pres- 

 ence of a perceptible amount of mercury. It ap- 

 peared from the experiments that the leucocytes 

 are the exclusive agents of transportation and ab- 

 sorption of mercurial compounds in the circulation. 



W. M. Bayliss represented in a paper communi- 

 cated to the International Physiological Congress 

 that he had found no law of opposition between 

 the visceral and the cutaneous vascular reflexes. 

 The opposite results obtained by Griitzner. Heiden- 

 hain, Dastre, Morat, and others he regarded as due 

 to their not having sufficiently taken account of 

 the passive changes in peripheral parts due to rise 

 and fall of blood pressure. The author had been 

 able to show by means of an artificial schema that 

 a slight constriction or dilatation in one part ar- 

 ranged in multiple arc with a larger part might be 

 overcome by a simultaneous constriction or dila- 

 tation of the larger part, and thus, although the 

 muscular net of the vessels in the limbs, etc., may 

 be in a state of contraction, the large simultaneous 

 rise of arterial pressure due to contraction in the 

 arterioles of the viscera forces even more blood 

 through the limbs than in the normal state, and 

 this causes an increase of the volume. 



A paper by Mr. Hamburger in the Royal Academy 

 of Sciences, Amsterdam, showed that venous pro- 

 pulsive pressure promotes in a high degree the de- 

 struction of Bacilli anthracis and their spores, whic i 

 have been introduced under the skin. 



Digestion. The results of the researches of Dr. 

 Aitchison Robertson on the process of amylolysis 

 by ptyalin in mixed diets are of interest as having 

 a direct bearing on the selection of a proper diet 

 for invalids and infants. The author began by 

 endeavoring to ascertain the quantity of saliva 

 which he secreted with different articles of diet 

 by weighing the portions, masticating them, and 

 then, instead of swallowing them, ejecting and re- 

 weighing each bolus. With a dietary which he 

 describes in detail, he found that he secreted the 

 total amount of 400 grammes of saliva a day. Rins- 

 ing out the mouth with tepid water greatly pro- 

 moted the flow of . saliva ; hence tea, though it 

 contains tannin, rarely causes amylaceous" dys- 

 pepsia, the excess of ptyalin counteracting the 

 action of the tannin. Brandy, whisky, and beer 

 are sialogogues, as also are sweets. Mechanical 

 irritation of the buccal mucous membrane and move- 

 ment of the jaws, as in speaking, cause an increase 

 of saliva. Considerable daily variations were ob- 

 served in the secretion. Many experiments, tho 

 details of which are recorded in the author's paper 

 in the " Journal of Anatomy and Physiology," wens 

 made on mixtures of starch with different food con- 

 stituents and beverages. Among other conditions, 

 the author satisfied himself that porridge and milk 

 form a more digestible compound as far as amylo- 

 lysis by saliva is concerned tnan other combination:) 

 of oatmeal ; that the more broken down and inois; 

 the starch particles are, the more rapid and exten- 

 sive is the amylolysis. Bread in a light and spongy 

 condition is more rapidly acted upon by saliva than 

 less spongy bread, though the ultimate digeMion i; 

 not more complete. Milk has a retarding influence 

 on the salivary digestion of starch in bread, while, 

 broth has little or no effect. Tea and coffee have an 

 inhibitory influence on amylolysis, but coca has lit- 

 tle or none. Beer promotes the salivary digestion of 

 starch. Alcohols, speaking generally, retard it ever 

 in dilute solution, wines appearing to have this in- 

 fluence chiefly owing to their aciditv. 



Many experiments, particularly those of C/ernaj 

 and Kaiser, Pachon, Carvallo, De Filippi Monari. 

 Ludwig and Ogata, go to show that dogs may livt 

 and be nourished and thrive after removal of then 

 stomachs. The operation of the total extirpation 





