90 



NATURE 



[May 26, 1904 



Muscle extractives. — The lymph exudation produced by 

 home-made beef-tea, derived from half a pound of beef 

 infused first in cold water and then in hot, is similar in 

 amplitude to that of a meat meal (see supra), only it is of 

 shorter duration. Two well known beef extracts, selected 

 out of several as typical of the rest, gave a somewhat smaller 

 amount of lymph exudation, the quantities taken being those 

 directed by their proprietors. No salt or other seasoning 

 was added to the preparations. The following products 

 derived from muscles have been administered, dissolved or 

 suspended in six ounces of cold water : — creatin, creatinin, 

 xanthin, hypoxanthin, uric acid, carnin, and glycogen. 



[Dr. Oliver here described how the matter of dosage was 

 settled.] 



The doses thus worked out may seem to the experimental 

 physiologist to be absurdly small, but the uniform results 

 obtained in different subjects showed that it was not 

 necessarv to experiment with larger qujmtities. My observ- 

 ations show that uric acid (either as uric acid or as 

 ammonium urate), xanthin, creatinin, carnin, and glycogen 

 produce a decided rise in the blood pressures (arterial, 

 capillary, and venous) and increase the exudation of tissue 

 lymph, the pressure and the exudation rise being propor- 

 tionate to each other. This effect from ingesting glycogen 

 was quite unexpected. The accompanying table gives the 

 doses, the maximum lymph exudation and arterial pressure, 

 and the duration of these effects. 



Table II. 



Carnin, gram 00325 



(5 grain) 



Creatinin, gram 0-0325 



{i grain) 



Glycogen, gram 00325 



(i grain) 



Ditto, gram 0-13 (2 



grains) ... ... ... 20 ... 120 ... go 



Uric acid, gram 0-0325 



(5 grain) 17 ... 117 ... 85 



.'\mmonium urate, 



gram 0-13 (2 grains)... 25 ... 125 ... 110 

 Xanthin, gram 00325 



(I grain) ... ... 20 ... 120 ... 105 



A long latent interval (about twenty minutes) elapsed after 

 swallowing uric acid or ammonium urate and xanthin 

 before any effect on the blood pressure was apparent, a 

 fact which may be accounted for by the low solubility of 

 these products, which, however, produced effects more de- 

 cided and more prolonged than those which followed the 

 other products. Creatin and hypoxanthin differ from the 

 other allied products in their effects on the arterial pressure. 

 Creatin produces at first a fall which is followed by a rise, 

 and hypoxanthin causes a marked fall in the arterial and 

 an equally decided rise in the venous pressure. 



When xanthin is combined with it in equal parts, the 

 blood pressures remain unaltered. In like manner when 

 creatinin is taken with creatin (equal parts) the preliminary 

 fall of arterial pressure produced by creatin fails to appear, 

 and the effects of the two agents balance each other for 

 twenty minutes, after which the rise of creatinin combined 

 with the ultimate rise of creatin take their normal course. 

 All the muscle-derived products raise the capillarv blood 

 pressure, increase the exudation of tissue lymph, and are 

 cardiac stimulants. 



The active principles contained in beverages. — Allied to 

 most of the foregoing products in their chemical constitu- 

 tion and physiological action on the blood pressure and 

 lymph circulation are the active principles of tea, coffee, and 

 cocoa, caffein and theobromin being methylxanthins, the 

 former being called tri- and the latter di-methvlxanthin. 

 They are therefore bodies with a purin basis (CJN,,), and, 

 like most of the other purin bodies, they raise the blood 

 pressure in a long, well sustained curve, with an accom- 

 panying wave-like exudation of tissue lymph, and they are 

 also like the other purins in being cardio-stimulants. 



The effects of alcohol on the blood pressure and lymph 



NO. 1804, VOL. 70] 



circulation are modified very considerably by the presence- 

 of other constituents in spirits, wines, malt liquors, &c. 

 The arterial pressure curve of absolute alcohol at first falls 

 and then rises, the fall below the normal being equivalent 

 to the rise above it. It therefore resembles that of creatin, 

 and differs from that of xanthin, uric acid, creatinin, and 

 glvcogen. 



Whisky follows the compound curve of absolute alcohol ; 

 brandy, wines, and beer conform to the simple curve of the 

 bodies' just mentioned, and gin follows the curve of hypo- 



TIME 



_in0'0 inoin in o >o mO*" in 



ntlii 



, lymph record from piirin-free meal. B, pnrin-free meal with- 

 chloride 2'o grams, c, purin-free meal with sodium chloride 

 ims. D, purin-free meal with sodium chljride 2 grams and 

 id o"oi6, creatin o"o33, creatinin 0*033, .\anthin o'oi6, hypo- 

 1 o'oi6, and glycogen o 048. 



xanthin, this marked difference being due to the jimiper it 

 contains. 



I conclude from the foregoing data that caffein, theo- 

 bromin, and the alcoholic beverages (but more especially 

 brandy, wines, and malt liquors) excite the flow of tissue 

 lymph like the purin and the other products previously 

 mentioned. 



How IS THE Digestive Exudation of Tissle Lv.mpii 

 Produced y 



We are led by the foregoing d:ita to the following con- 

 clusions : — (i) That the food constituents themselves (pro- 

 teids, fats, and carbohydrates) do not possess the power of 

 starting the mechanism by which lymph is dispensed to the 

 tissues throughout the body. (2) That nature, however, 

 associates with our food-stuffs small quantities of certain 

 very active substances which bring into play that mechanism, 

 though these substances themselves are practically devoid of 

 food value ; and that man frequently increases this natural 

 lymph stimulation by the use of salt and beverages contain- 

 ing bodies which also incite the flow of lymph. 



But let us put this matter to the test of experiment. It 

 is possible to arrange a meal containing a fairly large 

 quantity of nutrient elements in such a way that it will 

 not react on the circulation at all, and will not induce the- 

 flow of tissue lymph. Such a meal consists of three or 

 more eggs, a full supply of white bread, boiled rice or 

 tapioca, cream, sugar, and cheese, with a tumbler of cold 

 water. I have taken this meal several times with the feel- 

 ing of repletion, and yet it has not produced a rise of blood 

 pressure or the slightest flow of tissue lymph. 



In Fig. 3 A shows the negative effect of this meal on 

 the tissue lymph ; B and c indicate two e.xudations produced 

 by adding two and four grams of sodium chloride to the 

 meal ; and D is a voluminous lymph wave resulting from the 

 addition of a mixture of the following products with two 

 grams of salt: — uric acid, 0-016 gram; creatin, 0-033 

 gram; creatinin, 0-033 gram; xanthin, 0-016 gram; 

 hypoxanthin, 0-016 gram ; and glycogen, 0048 gram. 

 The meal produced a much more refreshing and sustaining 

 effect when the digestive lymph flow was excited by the 

 addition of salt, and more especially by that of salt 

 associated with the physiological products than when takeni 

 alone. 



