52 GASTRIC JUICE. 



tity of hydrochlorate of ammonia, without, however, being less 

 acid than in the normal state : it is worthy of notice that the 

 gastric juice, under these circumstances, was secreted very 

 copiously without the irritation caused by the presence of food, 

 that is to say, when the dog was fasting. As long as the gastric 

 juice remained acid, these chemists found no urea in the blood ; 

 they found it, however, as soon as well-marked morbid symptoms 

 were established in the animal ; and in this case there was only a 

 little gastric juice, which, moreover, was secreted in a decidedly 

 alkaline state, and contained much carbonate of ammonia. 



In two cases in which I analysed vomited matters, I found 

 urea when the patients presented none of the phenomena of 

 uraemia ; the vomited matter had a distinctly urinous odour, and, 

 moreover, contained uric acid. It was afterwards proved that the 

 patients, who were hysterical girls, had been drinking their own 

 urine, and had simulated retention of that excretion. Rayer* has 

 recorded a similar case. In accordance with Bernard's experi- 

 ments, we very often find carbonate of ammonia in vomited 

 matters, and especially in the contents of the stomach after death. 

 In the group of symptoms which are associated with cholera and 

 JB right's disease, and to which we give the name ur&mia, I have 

 always found the contents of the stomach and the vomited matters 

 strongly alkaline, and always rich in carbonate of ammonia, but 

 never containing urea. The symptoms indicating uraemia must, 

 however, have their foundation in something more than in the 

 mere decomposition of urea into carbonate of ammonia ; for when 

 I injected dilute solutions of carbonate of ammonia in various pro- 

 portions into the blood-vessels of cats and dogs, convulsions, and 

 even tetanic spasms (in the case of large doses) ensued, which, as is 

 well known, do not pertain to the ordinary phenomena of ureemia, 

 while vomiting did not occur in either class of animals, although 

 it may be induced readily in both. The stomach was usually only 

 slightly reddened, and presented no essential change in relation to 

 its amount of mucus. 



We are as yet unable to make any decisive statement regarding 

 the quantity of gastric juice secreted in twenty-four hours ; indeed, 

 on this point, we are at present entirely devoid of data. We only 

 know that, in the healthy state, its secretion is entirely dependant 

 on the ingestion of food, and that some articles of diet excite a 

 more copious effusion of gastric juice than others. Thus, for in- 



* Maladies des Reins, p. 285. 



