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as if the portal vein had been obstructed by ligature or otherwise. 

 Holding the muzzle of the animal so as temporarily to check its 

 breathing, and so impede the escape of blood from the liver during 

 the introduction of the solution, has the same effect as injecting it 

 rapidly. The carbonate of soda is delayed in the liver so as to bring 

 about the chemical and physical alteration I have noticed. 



If, then, the conditions of the experiment are such as to conduce 

 to the free passage of the injected solution through the liver, the 

 hepatine escapes the influence requisite to cause its rapid and com- 

 plete disappearance. But, should the circumstances be favourable 

 to the saturation of the parenchyma of the liver with the carbonated 

 alkali, the hepatine is so rapidly transformed that it soon ceases to 

 be discoverable. 



In the experiments mentioned, the hepatine completely disappeared 

 in the space of an hour ; a much shorter time, however, than this is 

 required ; for I have found that even within a few minutes of the 

 injection being completed the liver has been totally deprived of 

 hepatine. Thus, in one experiment, 200 grains of carbonate of soda 

 in one ounce of water were injected into a branch of the portal vein of 

 a good-sized, good-conditioned dog that had been fed about twenty 

 hours previously ; as soon as the vein was ligatured, the animal being 

 kept under the influence of chloroform, one of the lobes of the liver 

 was tied at its base and removed ; examined within a very short time 

 afterwards, it was found perfectly free from both hepatine and sugar. 

 In another experiment, 100 grains of carbonate of soda in half an 

 ounce of water were injected into one of the mesenteric veins of a 

 large, exceedingly good-conditioned dog that had been likewise fed 

 about twenty hours previously. When the injection was completed, 

 a portion of the liver was obtained and examined ; it was quite devoid 

 of hepatine, but contained just a discoverable trace of sugar ; this 

 probably existed in the liver before the injection, and was formed in 

 consequence of the congestion to which the organ was purposely 

 submitted by temporarily obstructing the breathing. 



I have tried the substitution of the caustic for the carbonated 

 alkali, but there are accidental circumstances occasioned by its use 

 which render it unfit for employment. Fifty grains of caustic pot- 

 ash were dissolved in one ounce of water and introduced into a branch 

 of the portal vein. After the injection was completed and the vein 



