TOXICOLOGY AND PHARMACOLOGY 



409 



ment which contains hydrogen sulphid, ammonia, etc. The testing 

 of a disinfectant must always take its use into consideration and be 

 accordingly varied in different cases. [The criterion of CARREL and 

 DEHELLY is the bacterial count per field in smears taken from the 

 wound. Tr.] 



Diuretics and Purgatives. 



Diuresis and defecation may be influenced in the most varied ways, 

 for instance by increased blood pressure or by increased peristalsis 

 in brief, by such factors as chiefly exert a more or less specific nervous 

 action; similar effects may be obtained by a purely mechanical 

 facilitation of secretion or by hindrance of absorption. 



We have repeatedly referred to the lyotropic series of the alkaline 

 salts (see pp. 80 and 296) and have shown among other things, that 

 there exists a remarkable parallelism between the swelling of gelatin 

 and fibrin, the precipitation of albumin and lecithin and the irrita- 

 bility of frog's muscle and ciliated epithelium. Also for diuresis 

 and defecation there exist such evident relationships which we shall 

 here elucidate. We give the classification of F. HOFMEISTER. The 

 figures above the columns I, II, etc., indicate the concentration of the 

 salt solutions which are necessary to salt out globulin. 



The various members of Group I are purgatives; those of IV and 

 V are diuretics, while the action of those in II and III with the 

 exception of magnesium sulphate are not sufficiently definite to be 

 of any service. 



Obviously, the anion is of the greatest importance for the action 

 of the above salts: we observe that Cl and NOs have the highest 

 rate of diffusion and are most rapidly absorbed. NaCl, KC1 and 

 NaNO 3 aid swelling so that a gel swells more rapidly in such a salt 

 solution than in pure water. From this it follows that the in- 



