36 INFLUENCE OF BORAX AND 



somewhat larger daily dose of boric acid made use of in the 

 present experiment is responsible for this result, although it 

 is possible of course that the personality of the animal may 

 have had some influence. In the previous experiment with 

 boric acid, where the maximum daily dose was 2 grams, the 

 volume of the urine was unaltered. In view of these facts it 

 is perhaps proper to consider the larger dosage of boric acid 

 used in the present experiment as responsible for the apparent 

 action upon proteid metabolism likewise. 



Also noticeable in this experiment is the influence of the 

 larger doses of borax upon the excretion of total and com- 

 bined sulphuric acid. Both of these are distinctly increased 

 in amount during the last borax period, in harmony with the 

 increase in proteid metabolism, and there is a suggestion of 

 the same influence in the first borax period. Moreover, in 

 the last borax period the excretion of phosphoric acid is 

 noticeably increased, while the elimination of uric acid is 

 slightly diminished. It is thus plainly evident, as already 

 stated, that while moderate doses of borax, even long-con- 

 tinued, are without influence upon the nutritional processes 

 of the body, large doses may distinctly increase the rate of 

 proteid metabolism, giving rise not only to an increased 

 excretion of nitrogen, but also of sulphuric acid and phos- 

 phoric acid. 



In all of these experiments with borax there is constant 

 evidence of an increase in the weight of the faeces during the 

 borax periods. This increase in weight is due in part to an 

 increased output of nitrogenous matter through this channel, 

 but whether the latter is caused by diminished digestion and 

 absorption of the proteid food or to a stimulation of the 

 mucous or other secretions from the gastro-intestinal tract 

 is not so clear. It has been plainly shown, however, in 

 another connection * that while borax hi moderate quantities 

 has no inhibitory action whatever on either gastric or pan- 

 creatic digestion of proteids, larger proportions do retard the 



* Chittenden : Influence of Borax and Boric Acid on Digestion. Dietetic 

 and Hygienic Gazette, 1893, vol. 9, p. 26. 



