METABOLISM AND THE DISTRIBUTION OF MATERIAL 227 



quent; it occurs also in severe anemias and in certain cachexias, 

 starvation and scurvy. In nephritics, some substances recently dis- 

 covered in the blood, may perhaps contribute to the inhibition of 

 oxidation. Cadaveric edema is well known, as is the bloated ap- 

 pearance of drowned bodies. In the case of living animals, only the 

 injection of excessive quantities of water or physiological salt solu- 

 tion are able to bring about edema. According to R. MAGNUS, this 

 is readily accomplished by injecting salt solution into the blood 

 vessels of dead animals. A dead frog may double its weight in from 

 36 to 48 hours if immersed in water. 



The injection of certain poisons (especially lactic acid) results in 

 an oxygen deficiency and thus brings about an excessive acid pro- 

 duction. M. H. FISCHER injected morphin, strychnin, cocain, 

 arsenic and uranium nitrate into the dorsal lymph sac of frogs and 

 thus produced an edema which disappeared if the frog was given an 

 opportunity to excrete the poison. 



Edema in the case of metal intoxications, especially in the case of 

 arsenic, is well known to clinicians, and the great thirst and the dimi- 

 nution in the excretion of urine which occurs after morphin, ether and 

 chloroform administration, may also be attributed to the deficiency 

 of oxygen in the tissues, with concomitant absorption of water. 



We have only referred to the development of edema by acids, and 

 I wish to call attention to the fact that intense edema may be pro- 

 duced by alkalies. Subcutaneous injection of n/10 sodium hydrate 

 results in severe edema. 



If such substances produce edema as favor the swelling of gelatin, 

 fibrin, etc., edema must be counteracted by electrolytes which re- 

 duce swelling. The correctness of this assumption was demonstrated 

 by M. H. FISCHER on the amputated leg of a frog. The addition of 

 neutral salts diminished the swelling and acted in the same order 

 that the cations and anions did in diminishing the swelling of fibrin. 

 Nonelectrolytes, on the other hand, had no influence. 



M. H. FISCHER regards glaucoma as a typical example of a local 

 edema. This is a disease of the eyes, of which the most character- 

 istic symptom is very greatly increased tension, which produces 

 hardness of the eyeball. The excruciating pains and loss of vision 

 are mere consequences. The various explanations given in ophthal- 

 mological textbooks are quite unsatisfactory, whereas the experi- 

 ments of M. H. FISCHER are quite convincing. M. H. FISCHER 

 placed extirpated ox eyes l in water, to which so little acid had been 

 added that it was imperceptible to taste. These eyes became stony 



1 The investigations of P. Bottazzi* and his pupils on the swelling and 

 shrinking of lenses in solutions of acids, bases and salts should be mentioned. 



