642 



PHYSIOLOGY. 



is roughly proportional to the amount of iodine 

 present ; but activity is not increased by artificially 

 increasing the proportion of the iodine. The pro- 

 teid-free body can be made to take up an addi- 

 tional quantity of iodine equal to what it already 

 contains, but the activity of this product has not 

 yet been tested. Intravenous injection of a solution 

 of the colloid matter has no effect on the blood 

 pressure or the heart. The fall of blood pressure 

 which results from the injection of thyroid extracts 

 is due mainly to one or more of the organic ex- 

 tractions present, and in a less degree to the pres- 

 ence of mineral salts. Previous removal of the 

 ovaries or testes has no influence upon the results 

 of thyroidectomy, and ovarian feeding has no 

 curative influence in myxcedema. The author has 

 not been able to find any evidence of the presence 

 of a poison in the bile or central nervous system of 

 animals suffering from the effects of thyroidectomy. 

 Of 24 consecutive cases of complete removal of the 

 thyroid, only 4 of the animals survived. The per- 

 centage of survivals can be raised by thyroid feed- 

 ing, but only to a small extent. Parathyroid feed- 

 ing has no effect in myxcedema. Keeping animals 

 (dogs and cats) warm after thyroidectomy does not 

 delay the onset of the acute symptoms, nor does it 

 modify their course. 



In his experiments upon the functions of the su- 

 prarenal capsules made upon the frog, M. P. Lan- 

 glois used a red-hot platinum wire for the destruction 

 of one or both capsules. He found that death in- 

 variably follows the destruction of both capsules, 

 though- not of one alone. As reasons for believing 

 that the fatal issue is due to the suppression or abo- 

 lition of an organ essential to life, and not to the 

 shock of the operation or to any inhibitory action 

 exerted, the author adduces the facts that no marked 

 symptoms are observed during the first twenty-four 

 hours after total destruction ; that the fatal result 

 is postponed when the destruction is incomplete ; 

 and that the subcutaneous insertion of fragments 

 of the kidney with the capsules prolongs life, though 

 such a proceeding would be without influence on 

 the phenomena of inhibition. The average duration 

 of. life after the operation of extirpation of the supra- 

 renals is about forty-eight hours, but in winter, and 

 in the hibernating frog, life may be prolonged for 

 twelve or thirteen days. The first symptoms ob- 

 served after the operation were a kind of apathy 

 and indisposition to move, even when irritated ; 

 then ensued inco-ordination of the movements, 

 especially of the hinder limbs, followed by complete 

 paralysis, and succeeded by a similar sequence of 

 events in the fore limbs; the respiration became 

 slower, the pupils contracted, the cardiac contrac- 

 tions became feebler, and the circulation less active, 

 and the animal died. Further experiments led to 

 the belief that the death of the animal was not due 

 to any disturbance of the renal functions. The au- 

 thor believes that after the removal of both supra- 

 renals a true auto-intoxication takes place, the ani- 

 mal generating poisons which, being normally either 

 destroyed or changed in the gland, or by some ma- 

 terial formed by the gland, are now poured into the 

 blood. 



Experiments by Snale Vincent indicate that in 

 cats and dogs, at all events, the active principle of 

 the suprarenal capsule is not absorbed when taken 

 into the stomach. 



A new way of counting the sudoriferous glands 

 in the human subject devised by Dr. Eijkmann, of 

 the Dutch Colonial Service in Jamaica, includes 

 covering the subject, after he has been thoroughly 

 washed, with an alcoholic solution of fuchsine, and 

 drying. A sheet of fine white paper is applied for 

 a few minutes in such a way as to avoid creases and 

 folds. On removal, the paper will be found thickly 



studded with red stains, each stain representing the 

 aperture of a sudoriferous gland. The fuchsine has 

 no effect upon the parts that keep dry) but wherever 

 the paper has been moistened by a drop of perspi- 

 ration there will be a mark. A whole series of 

 " proofs " may be taken in this way without any 

 need to renew the fuchsine. In determining the 

 number of glands the system adopted for counting 

 the red corpuscles of the blood may be followed. 

 Dr. Eijkmann examined in this way the skin of va- 

 rious parts of the bodies of two Malays and three 

 Europeans. He found as an average for the whole 

 body 160 sweat glands per square centimetre in the 

 former and 162 in the latter. But the distribution 

 varied greatly according to situation, the hand and 

 the brow being the parts most thickly studded. 



An elaborate series of researches on the bile pig- 

 ments of the higher animals and in some of the in- 

 vertebrates has been carried on by MM. Dastre and 

 Floresco, by which they have satisfied themselves 

 that bilirubin or bilirubinic acid does not exist 

 free in bile, except, perhaps, in some strongly pig- 

 men ted kinds like that of the pig, but that its oc- 

 currence is in combination with sodium as a neutral 

 bilirubinate, for bilirubin is insoluble both in nor- 

 mal bile and in the decolorized bile of Plattner; 

 moreover, the alkaline bilirubinates, contrary to the 

 statement of Stadeler, are only to a small extent solu- 

 ble in water, while they are readily soluble in the alk.-i- 

 lies and the alkaline carbonates. Bile is, in regard x> 

 the nature of its fundamental pigment, a solution of 

 sodium bilirubinate in the alkaline carbonates. Tlie 

 second pi'incipal bile pigment, green pigment, biii- 

 verdinicacid, is in similar case. It is, however, slight- 

 ly soluble in normal bile, and in decolorized bile, 

 whether neutral or acid. It exists in the bile princi- 

 pally in the state of sodium biliverdinaie dissolved in 

 the carbonates. Solutions of bilirubin do not absorb 

 oxygen from the air to pass into the condition of 

 biliverdin. This absorption occurs only with the 

 bilirubinates in becoming biliverdinates. The color 

 of solutions of the fundamental pigment depends 

 on the quantity of the pigment, and varies from a 

 deep red containing TJ&TT or more to a pale yellow,' 

 which is always the color of neutralized solutions. 

 In normal bile taken from the gall bladder the 

 authors have discovered two other intermediate 

 pigments which they have named biliprasinic pig- 

 ments. One of these is yellowish brown, and is the 

 biliprasinate of soda. It is converted into bili- 

 prasin or green pigment by a current of carbon di- 

 oxide and by acetic and most other acids, especially 

 in presence of alcohol. It is not stable hi menu, 

 but is decolorized by the action of light, and when 

 exposed to air and light it becomes green, changing 

 to sodic biliverdinate. It exists in some vill \v 

 biles. The second biliprasinic pigment bilipra-.n 

 is green. It differs from biliverdin that is, the 

 biliverdinates in becoming yellow (forming bili- 

 prasinates) on the addition of a few drops of alkali, 

 and in becoming red (forming bilirubinates) on ex- 

 posure to a vacuum. It is slightly soluble, especially 

 in liquors charged with carbon dioxide. It consii- 

 tutes the ordinary pigment of the bile of the calf, 

 of the fresh bile of the ox, and of the bile d' t ie 

 rabbit. The two pigments have the simple relati"n 

 to one another of the yellow one being an alkaline 

 salt of the green one. and they are converted into 

 each other by the alternate action of acids and ijf 

 alkalies. This is contrary to what occurs with bili- 

 rubin and the bilirubinates, which are equally yel- 

 low, and with biliverdin and the biliverdinates, whi<$h 

 are equally green. Hence, contrary to what is usu- 

 ally stated, yellow bile can become green \vi; 

 oxidation. True biliverdin is loss common than 

 supposed in bile. The biliprasinic pigments are in- 

 termediate to the fundamental pigments, biliruliin 





