GASES OF THE LYMPH. 807 



may also act in the same manner as amino-acids. Protein carbamino- 

 acids are formed, and the possibility of such a binding of carbon dioxide 

 must also be considered. 



In the foregoing it has been assumed that the alkali is the most essen- 

 tial and important constituent of the blood-serum, as well as of the blood 

 in general, in uniting with the carbon dioxide. The fact that the quan- 

 tity of carbon dioxide in the blood greatly diminishes with a decrease 

 in the quantity of alkali strengthens this assumption. Such a condi- 

 tion is found, for example, after poisoning with mineral acids. Thus 

 WALTER found only 2-3 vols. per cent carbon dioxide in the blood of 

 rabbits into whose stomachs hydrochloric acid had been introduced. In 

 the comatose state of diabetes mellitus the alkali of the blood seems to 

 be in great part saturated with acid combinations, /?-oxybutyric acid 

 (STADELMANN, MINKOWSKI), and MINKOWSKI l found only 3.3 vols. 

 per cent carbon dioxide in the blood in diabetic coma. 



GASES OF THE LYMPH AND SECRETIONS. 



The gases of the lymph are the same as in the blood-serum, and the 

 lymph stands close to the blood-serum in regard to the quantity of the 

 various gases, as well as to the kind of carbon-dioxide combination. The 

 investigations of DAENHARDT and HENSEN 2 on the gases of human 

 lymph are at hand, but it still remains a question whether the lymph 

 investigated was quite normal. The gases of normal dog-lymph were 

 first investigated by HAMMARSTEN. S These gases contained traces of 

 oxygen and consisted of 37.453.1 per cent CO2 and 1.6 per cent N at 

 C. and 760 mm. Hg pressure. About one-half of the carbon dioxide was 

 in firm chemical combination. The quantity was greater than in the 

 serum from arterial blood, but smaller than from venous blood. 



The remarkable observation of BUCHNER, that the lymph collected 

 after asphyxiation is poorer in carbon dioxide than that of the breathing 

 animal, is explained by ZUNTZ 4 by the formation of acid in the tissues, 

 and especially in the lymphatic glands, immediately after death, and 

 this acid in part decomposes the alkali carbonates of the lymph. 



The secretions, with the exception of the saliva, in which PFLUGER 

 and KULZ found respectively 0.6 per cent and 1 per cent oxygen, are 

 almost free from oxygen. The quantity of nitrogen is the same as in blood, 

 and the chief mass of the gases consists of carbon dioxide. The quantity 

 of this gas is chiefly dependent upon the reaction, i.e., upon the quan- 



1 Walter, Arch. f. exp. Path. u. Pharm., 7; Stadelmann, ibid., 17; Minkowski, 

 Mittheil a. d. med. Klinik in Konigsberg, 1888. 



2 Virchow's Arch., 37. 



3 Ber. d. k. sachs. Gesellsch. d. Wissensch., math.-phys. Klasse, 23. 



4 Buchner, Arbeiten aus der physiol. Anstalt zu Leipzig, 1876; Zuntz, 1. c., 85. 



