BORIC ACID UPON NUTRITION. 19 



period is essentially the same as that of the fore and after 

 periods. Further, the total weight of faeces for each of the 

 three periods is so nearly the same, it is quite evident that 

 assimilation has not been materially interfered with. In this 

 respect our results fail to agree with those reported by Forster, 

 who found that small doses of boric acid (1 gram in two days) 

 given to a man on a mixed diet, and on a milk and egg diet, 

 increased the excretion of faeces ; this increase being due, ac- 

 cording to Forster, not to any decrease in the assimilation of 

 fat nor to increase in the volume of the secretions, but to a 

 decreased assimilation of the proteid food under the influence 

 of the boric acid. This difference in our results may of course 

 depend upon the difference in the character of the animal 

 species. In our experiment, the weight of the animal remained 

 perfectly constant throughout the entire period of thirty days. 

 The accompanying tables contain the various data obtained. 



Unlike borax, boric acid fails to produce any change in the 

 volume of the urine. Thus, in the fore period of ten days the 

 total volume excreted amounted to 4647 c.c., while in the boric 

 acid period of the same length the total volume was 4665 c.c., 

 and in the after period 4644 c.c. Further, there is no marked 

 difference, to be measured by litmus paper, in the reaction of 

 the fluid, although, as the tables show, alkaline reaction is 

 more common in the normal periods than in the boric acid 

 period. In the latter period, however, the specific gravity of 

 the urine, as might be expected, shows a higher average than 

 in the two normal periods. This is due, as in the case of 

 borax, to the rapid elimination of the boric acid through the 

 urine. The latter shows the presence of the acid by the 

 turmeric test on the first day of the boric acid period, while 

 on the second day of the after period all trace of a reaction 

 disappears, thus showing that the acid is rapidly eliminated 

 from the body and is practically completely removed twenty- 

 four to thirty-six hours after the last dose. 



Upon the elimination of uric acid, boric acid appears to have 

 a slight inhibitory effect, at least under the conditions of this 



