22,2 Read and Wang: Metabolism in China 137 



aged, in apparent good health, excreted no chlorides. He did not 

 dislike salt. After we had administered two 10-gram doses, he 

 excreted it freely in the urine. 



Phosphates.— The ratio of phosphoric oxide to nitrogen for 

 the subjects of Table 2 is 1 to 5.1, which is similar to that 

 quoted for Europeans, namely, 1 to 5 or 6. 



Sulphates. —The ratio of total sulphur to nitrogen is similar 

 to that obtained by Young. (14) There was an average of 14.06. 

 This is not remarkable when we consider that the ratios obtained 

 vary according to the diet. The absolute amounts of inorganic 

 and ethereal sulphates were fairly normal, indicating no abnor- 

 mal putrefaction in the intestine; and, since our nitrogen-to- 

 sulphur ratio is high, we conclude that about the normal amount 

 of protein sulphur was oxidized. The proportion of neutral 

 sulphur was very high, see Table 8. Folin(8) has shown how 



Table 8.— Excretion of sulphur. 



K, 



ss 



Sulphur. Percentage of total sulphur. 



— • 



Inorganic. 



Ethereal. 



Neutral. 





■;;; 



1.571 



59. 3 



to. a 



0.128 



s 



:1 



i : ; 



™E- 













I 









*"**"■ 



r.oe 



1.516 



61.16 



o.m 



5.04 



0.S10 



33.0 



the amount of neutral sulphur excreted is practically independent 

 of the diet. In his experiment a patient on a normal protein 

 diet gave 0.18 gram, or 4.8 per cent of the total sulphur, and 

 the same person on a reduced protein diet gave 0.2 gram, or 

 26.3 per cent of the total sulphur. It is a known fact that 

 anaesthetics will increase the amount of neutral sulphur; how- 

 ever, not all of our patients were operated upon, but all show 

 high values. In any case, none of the urines were collected until 

 the patients were well on the road to recovery and convalescing, 

 just before being discharged. Case 4, which gave an average 



