880 THOMAS ORDWAY AND ARTHUR KNUDSON 



ami has shown that thorium-x emanation accelerates or retards peptic, 

 tryptic and diastatic digestion. The duration of such action depends in 

 part on the time the radiations act. He believes that possibly the autolytic 

 ferments are influenced by the alpha rays. 



From the foregoing it will be seen that radiation affects enzymes defi- 

 nitely, but the effects are variable, probably depending upon the duration 

 or the amount of radiation. 



Funk(e) investigated the influence of radium emanation on the yeast 

 vitamins and reported that radium emanation has no destructive action on 

 beri-beri vitamin or on the growth-promoting factors in yeast. Suguira 

 and Benedict, however, subjected portions of yeast to the rays of radium 

 and tested this for their growth-promoting powers upon young white rats 

 as compared with the same yeast not treated with radium. They ob- 

 served that the growth-promoting factors in yeast may be partially in- 

 activated by means of exposure and believe that this may account for 

 some of its effects on tumors. 



Effect on Normal Metabolism. Most of the contributions dealing 

 with metabolism studies under the influence of radioactive substances and 

 x-rays have been concerned with abnormal human beings, but some work 

 has been done upon normal animals and human beings. Quadrome studied 

 the influence of x-rays on one guinea pig and six rabbits and although his 

 results were not uniform he got in most cases a slight increase in the urine 

 of the total phosphates (P 2 O 5 ). Baermann and Linser obtained an in- 

 creased nitrogen excretion immediately after raying their patients; this 

 increase lasted two or three days and on the third or fourth day the nitro- 

 gen excretion usually returned to normal. In a man, normal except for 

 chronic eczema, Bloch observed after repeated raying a small increase 

 of basic nitrogen output in urine also an increase of phosphates. The me- 

 tabolism of one dog rayed with large doses of roentgen rays was studied by 

 Benjamin and V. Reuss. An immediate increase in nitrogen elimina- 

 tion was observed after the first exposure and rapidly returned to normal. 

 In a second exposure to the rays the increased elimination lasted several 

 days. The basic nitrogen (product formed by precipitation with phos- 

 photungstic acid), non-basic nitrogen, ammonia and urea, which were 

 determined on the urine specimens along with the total nitrogen, all 

 showed an increase. The basic nitrogen increased proportionately more 

 than the others. The phosphate output of the urine also increased tran- 

 siently. In the first exposure it rose to 33 per cent above normal and the 

 second to over 100 per cent. During the high phosphate output in the 

 urine a transient appearance of cholin in the blood was demonstrated, 

 which the authors attributed to the breaking up of lecithin and substances 

 derived therefrom. Metabolism observations reported by Lommel on three 

 young dogs showed similar results; that is, increased nitrogen and phos- 

 phate elimination. Linser and Sick, in studying the effect- of x-rays on 



