BORIC ACID AND BORAX. 89 



not a wholly justifiable conclusion, however, appears readily from the 

 fact that by reason of the accumulative deportment of the preservative 

 on its administration, tending to reach a maximum degree of tolera- 

 tion in fhe body, several days elapse after the withdrawal of the pre- 

 servative before its entire elimination. The word " entire" is used to 

 indicate that practically all of the preservative has been eliminated, 

 although in point of fact traces of it may persist for a longer period. 

 The obvious conclusion from the above statement is that the after 

 period is not of long enough duration to determine definitely the point 

 in question, and this it is admitted is a just criticism of the method of 

 investigation employed. It appears that it would have been more 

 logical to have continued the after period for at least ten days after 

 the practical elimination of the preservative from the body. Taking 

 all these facts into view, it seems reasonable to suppose that the con- 

 tinued decrease in weight in the instances mentioned may have been 

 to some extent due, if not entirely, to the preservative used. In this 

 case it is justifiable to conclude that when the healthy body is in a 

 state of equilibrium i. e., neither gaining nor losing weight on a cer- 

 tain diet the administration of the boric acid in the quantities and under 

 the conditions described for Series I of the experiment tends to pro- 

 duce a slight loss in the weight of the body. 



SERIES II. 



In the case of No. 7 in Series II the average body weight in the fore 

 period is 56.41 kilograms, in the preservative period 56.10, in the after 

 period 55.72, and the mean for the whole series is 56.04 kilograms. 

 In the supplementary preservative period, extending from February 

 16 to February 21, inclusive, No. 7 did not participate. We see in 

 this case a slight tendency on the part of the preservative to diminish 

 the body weight. 



The average weight of No. 8 in the fore period is 66.77 kilograms, 

 in the preservative period 65.36, in the after period 65.32, and the mean 

 for the series is 65.82, the mean for the supplemental series being 

 64.65 kilograms. In this case there is a marked tendency to diminish 

 the body weight, and this tendency continues during the supplementary 

 preservative period. This loss in weight was doubtless &ue to a large 

 extent to illness resembling the grippe, very prevalent in Washington 

 at that time. 



No. 9 of Series II was replaced in Series IV by a larger <-man. The 

 weights given are therefore*those of the new member, calculated on the 

 basis of the variations of the original No. 9. The data for No. 9 show 

 a loss in weight during the preservative period of more than 1 kilo- 

 gram. The tendency to diminution in weight continues during the 

 after period, as shown by the loss of 0.08 of a kilogram in weight. 

 No. 9 only received the preservative during the period extending from 



