592 EXPERIMENTS DEALING WITH 



(3) A meal of pure proteid causes an increased flow of more 

 concentrated lymph along the thoracic duct. The curve of this 

 increased flow runs parallel to the curve of nitrogen excreted in 

 the urine, showing maxima at the second and sixth hours after the 

 meal. Asher did not investigate the vascular changes during 

 digestion. He also showed that by injecting the solution of an 

 assimilable proteid, like casein, into the portal vein, he produced 

 an increased flow along the thoracic duct, presumably by stimu- 

 lating the liver cells. 



(4) He attempted to show that injections of solutions of 

 ammonium carbonate or tartarate into the portal vein increased 

 the flow of a more concentrated lymph along the thoracic duct by 

 stimulating the liver cells to produce urea. Bainbridge has re- 

 peated these experiments, but was unable to confirm Asher's 

 conclusions. He found that all ammonium salts were highly toxic, 

 producing intravascular clotting and cardiac failure, or muscular 

 twitching and fall in arterial pressure or extreme dyspnoea; that 

 an increased lymph flow only occurred when toxic symptoms were 

 present and could be amply explained by them: further, that in 

 fasting dogs ammonium chloride is not converted into urea, and 

 yet it causes an increased lymph flow. 



(5) He further attempted to show that * the formation of 

 glycogen by the liver following an extremely slow injection of 

 dextrose into the portal vein was accompanied by an increased 

 flow of lymph of unaltered concentration. The experiments are 

 not conclusive, no data are given to show that glycogen was 

 formed, and the injection of a crystalloid raises other possible 

 explanations. 



(6) Bainbridge has shown that the secretion of pancreatic 

 juice caused by the injection of secretin is accompanied by an 

 increased flow of lymph along the thoracic duct. Secretin also 

 causes vaso-dilatation of the pancreas, lasting as long as the juice is 

 being secreted, but, as in the case of the salivary glands and liver, 

 it is probable that the increased lymph flow is independent of the 

 vaso-dilatation, although this has not been proved for the pancreas. 



Asher and others have thus demonstrated that in certain cases 

 increased tissue activity is associated with increased lymph flow, 

 and, as no instance is known of increased cell metabolism unac- 

 companied by increased lymph formation, it is fair to assume that 

 this association is constant. 



