82 INORGANIC INGREDIENTS. 



that to one he gave salt, while to the other he gave none. Several 

 months elapsed before any very marked difference could be detected, 

 but at the end of a year, during which time the experiment con- 

 tinued, there were striking differences in the two sets. The bul- 

 locks that received the salt were in excellent physical condition, 

 while those deprived of it were much inferior in every respect : 

 their hide was rough, their hair tangled, and they were dull and 

 apathetic. Experiments of a similar nature upon sheep have pro- 

 duced like results. 



Avenues of Discharge. Sodium chlorid is daily discharged 

 from the body through the following excretions and in the given 

 amounts : Urine, 13 grams ; perspiration, 2 grams. There is a 

 small amount also in mucous secretions. 



Sodium Phosphate (Na 2 HPO 4 ) and Potassium Phosphate (K 2 - 

 HPO 4 ). These salts are so intimately associated that they may be 

 described together. They are frequently spoken of as the " alka- 

 line phosphates," and exist in all the solids and fluids of the body. 



Offices of Alkaline Phosphates. The most important office 

 which these salts perform is to assist in giving alkalinity to the 

 alkaline fluids a property which, in the blood at least, is essential 

 to life, and in some of the other fluids is necessary to the per- 

 formance of their offices. The fluids of the body are, with but 

 four exceptions, alkaline in reaction : these exceptions are gastric 

 juice, perspiration, urine, and vaginal mucus. The following 

 fluids are alkaline : plasma of the blood, lymph, aqueous humor, 

 cephalorachidian fluid, pericardial fluid, synovia, mucus (except 

 that of vagina), milk, spermatic fluid, tears, saliva, bile, pancreatic 

 juice, and intestinal juice. 



The alkalinity of the plasma of the blood is not an accidental 

 property. The fact that the blood of all animals hitherto ex- 

 amined has invariably been found alkaline would seem to indicate 

 that this condition is an important one. Bernard has shown that 

 if an acid is injected into the blood of an animal, death will be 

 produced even though the amount injected is not enough to make 

 the blood itself acid. One of the properties of the blood is to 

 carry carbonic acid gas one of the products of the waste of the 

 tissues to the lungs, where it is eliminated ; and experiment has 

 shown that the alkalescence of the blood enables it to carry more 

 of this gas than it could were it neutral in action. In discussing 

 the alkaline carbonates it will be seen that they take part in 

 rendering alkaline the fluids in which they occur. 



Source of Alkaline Phosphates. The alkaline phosphates are 

 taken into the body in the food, of which they form a constituent 

 part. 



Avenues of Discharge. After fulfilling their offices in the body 

 these alkaline salts are discharged in the perspiration, the mucus, 

 and the urine. In the urine a portion of the sodium phosphate 



