1894.] produced on Liver Cells by various Compounds. 425 



3. The size and arrangement of the meshes of the mitoma of the 

 cells. 



4. The size of the biliary canaliculi. 



5. The amount and distribution of the glycogen in the cells and in 

 the lobules of the organ. 



6. The amount and distribution of granules giving the reaction 

 characteristic of inorganic ferric salts.* 



We also recorded changes affecting other parts, -but we need not 

 consider them for the present. 



We will now give an account of the appearances produced in the liver 

 soon after the administration of the compounds mentioned above, either 

 subcutaneously, by tht rectum, or by the mouth (the latter in only two 

 cases) : 



1. To rabbits that had taken a moderate amount of food (50 grams 

 of carrots from 7 to 9 hrs. before death in two cases only the time 

 was less than 7 hrs.) ; 



2. To rabbits that had not been fed for at least 24 hrs. before 

 death. 



To estimate the changes produced, the organs of animals to which 

 drugs had been administered were compared in each case with those 

 of animals in the same 1 stage of digestion, but to which no drug had 

 been administered. Thus, when we say that a drug causes an en- 

 largement of the meshes of the mitoma, or renders them more distinct 

 or indistinct, or causes an accumulation of iron, we always mean that 

 the state in which the cells would have been at the same stage of digestion 

 has been modified in the direction indicated. 



As the measurements of cells and parts of cells necessitate the care- 

 ful drawing of a large number of cells with the camera lucida, the 

 report, in its final shape, cannot yet be given; but, as all the appear- 

 ances observed have been taken note of during the progress of the 

 investigation, we are in position to give an idea of the results which 

 have so far been obtained, but which we are not yet able to express in 

 numbers, and compare as accurately as we hope to do when all our 

 measurements are completed. 



Action of Pilocarpine on a Fasting Liver. 



A. Last food given 25 hrs. before death. 



Pilocarpine nitrate (grain f = gram 0'042, dissolved in 10 c.c. 

 of water) was injected into the rectum 1 hr. and 28 mins. before 

 death. 



* Loc. tit., and also " Contribution to the Study of the Vertebrate Liver," 

 ' Roy. Soc. Proc.,' Nov. 20, 1890, vol. 49, p. 6*; " On the Normal Storage of Iron 

 in the Liver," ' Practitioner,' vol. 45, p. 94. 



