CHAP. XII.] THE F^CES IN DISEASE. 463 



C. Schmidt found the liquid dejections of man, after administration 

 of infusions of senna, to have the following composition 1 : 



Water in 1000 parts 969'75 

 Solid matters 30'25 



Albumin 1-64 



Other organic matters 20*03 

 Inorganic salts 8*58 



The analysis of the mineral constituents made by this eminent 

 analyst exhibit clearly enough that the secretion was not normal 

 intestinal juice, the solid constituents of which, as we have shewn, 

 contain one-third of their weight of sodium carbonate. 



Schmidt found the inorganic salts, referred to in the above analysis, 

 to have the following composition. 



K 2 S0 4 0-667 



KC1 2-680 



NaCl 2-056 



Na 3 PO 4 0-658 



Na 2 1-960 



Ca 3 (P0 4 ) 2 0-325 



Mg 3 (P0 4 ) 2 0-233 



Method of I n examining the liquid stools passed in diarrhoea 



depending upon simple intestinal catarrh, typhoid fever, 

 or cholera, the observer should not merely satisfy him- 

 associated self by simple inspection, but should decant the stool 



with diarrhoea, into a tall cylinder and examine both the deposit and 

 the supernatant liquid. " In all cases where the stools have to be 

 examined, the noisome odour may be reduced to a minimum by 

 pouring over them (whether liquid or solid) a thin layer of ether. 

 After the sediment has been deposited, the observer can form at a 

 glance an approximate estimate of the amount of water, blood, 

 mucus, and solid matters. He is able to recognize the amount and 

 size of fibrinous exudations and can easily obtain the different con- 

 stituents of the faeces for microscopic examination. The latter by 

 revealing the presence of pus and blood-corpuscles, of exuviated 

 epithelia, of mucus and the histological elements of tumours, permit 

 of an approximate conclusion being drawn as to the nature and 

 intensity of the pathological processes going on in the intestine 2 ." 

 It need scarcely be added that at the present time a bacteriological 

 examination of the faeces in disease is necessary for their thorough 

 scientific investigation. 



1 C. Schmidt, ' Zur Charakteristik d. epidem. Cholera, &c.' Dorpat u. Mitau (1850). 



2 Freely translated from Ewald Die Lehre von der Verdauung. Einleitung in die 

 Klinik der Verdauungskrankheiten. Zwolf Vorlesungen gehalten, vor Aerzten und dlteren 

 Studirenden, im Wintersemester 1878 79, von Dr C. A. Ewald. Berlin, Hirschwald, 

 1879, see pp. 96 and 97. 



