232 INFECTIONS OF THE DIGESTIVE TRACT 



to the Burgeon treatment for pulmonary phthisis have 

 been able to take considerable quantities of hydrogen 

 sulphide administered by the rectum without injurious 

 effects. It appears to me extremely doubtful, however, 

 from the results of experiments made upon dogs whether 

 it is really possible to bring about the rapid absorption 

 of more than small quantities of hydrogen sulphide in 

 man without giving rise to collapse. In experiments 

 conducted on dogs it is necessary to use the utmost 

 caution in administering the gas by the rectum in order to 

 prevent fatal collapse. Nevertheless, small quantities 

 of the gas may almost certainly be absorbed from the 

 human intestine without giving rise to noticeable dis- 

 turbance of nervous function or to the presence of 

 hydrogen sulphide in the urine. Friedrich Miiller * 

 showed that in various disorders of the intestine hydrogen 

 sulphide is liberated in the lungs, but without simulta- 

 neous appearance of hydrogen sulphide in the urine, 

 owing probably to the small quantity of gas formed. 

 In some cases of extreme dilatation of the stomach the 

 formation of hydrogen sulphide is so abundant as to 

 make it seem strange that the patients escape without 

 symptoms of intoxication. Their immunity in these 

 cases appears to depend on the fact that there is an enac- 

 tion of the gas when it accumulates in considerable 

 volume. 



It has come to be well recognized that local inflam- 

 matory conditions of the bladder may be associated with 



'"Ueber Schwefelwasserstoff im Ham," Berl. klin. Wochen- 

 schr., xxiv., p. 405, 1887. 



