TRANSACTIONS OF THE SECTIONS. 123 



were other forms noticed. He concluded with some observations on the form of 

 the glottis seen in the chest and falsetto registers, and the parts in action*. 



Note on the Action of the Bromides of Lithium, Zinc, and Lead. 

 Bij George Duncaii Gibb, M.A., M.D., LL.D., F.G.S. 

 The bromide of lithium was prepared with the view of treating gout and rheu- 

 matism of the throat and neck. In small doses it acts as a touic, gentle stimulant, 

 and sometimes as a dim-etic, and may be combined with other agents with advan- 

 tage. The bromide of zinc was found to relieve impaired nervous power ; whilst 

 the bromide of lead was proposed as a soothing and cool local agent in certain in- 

 flamed states of the mucous membrane. 



On the Functions of the Liver. Bij John Goodman, M.D., L.B.C.P.L. 



The functions of this organ are, by the most recent works on physiology, 

 declared to be of two piincipal kinds, viz. excrementitious and digestive. It is 

 represented as a_^/<e/-, which purifies by excretion the venous blood; This is not, how- 

 ever, the main fimction of this organ, but only the result of a more highly important 

 process. As the great inlkt to the xi/sfemic circulation for the dissolved and soluble 

 aliment and venous blood, its chief ojjice is the chemical cobrection of these fluids 

 previous to their admission into the general mass of blood. This it efl'ects as a 

 highly organized gland by the power of the xttat, force, which it exercises in 

 common vsith the stomach, lungs, kidneys, &c. By this power it seizes the acids, 

 acrid, noxious, and oxygenous substances absorbed from the aliment by the vena 

 porta, decomposes them, and compels them to combine with the free soda 

 (liberated fi-om the hydrochloric acid employed in digestion), the alkalies of the 

 aliment and the excess of carbon and hydrogen aniving in the venous blood of 

 the vena porta ; and to form new compoimds, some of which are secreted in the 

 various products termed bile, while others thus piuitied and rendered more or less 

 innocuous are admitted into the systemic circulation, part to be eliminated in the 

 lungs in the form of carbonic acid and water, and other portions transmitted for 

 the purposes of nutrition. 



Proofs. — The facts of the non-appearance in the circulation of the blood of acids, 

 bile, and other acrid principles previously existing in the aliment, — the loss of oxy- 

 gen from starch or sugar, when transformed into fat by this organ, — the alkaline 

 character of the chyle, — the absence of b'le in the excreta of Asiatic cholera, and 

 in the acid and foetid evacuations of chronic diarrhcea, — the presence of acid in the 

 blood, c&c, in gout and rheumatism, in all which diseases the liver is always defec- 

 tive in its action, form just and reasonable proofs of these highly important func- 

 tions of the liver. 



On the Hour of Death in Acute and Chronic Disease. By Alfred Haviland. 



The author had collected over 5000 cases of death, with the hour of death and 

 other circumstances recorded, which he had tabulated and exhibited on a large 

 chart. He showed, in 1000 cases of death in children under five years of age, that 

 the periods of the greatest mortality took place during the hours between one and 

 eight A.M. ; that an extraordinary depression took place in the succeeding hoiu's. 

 Between nine <and twelve p.m. the rate of mortality was at its minimum. He then 

 compared these statistics with 2891 deaths from all causes, and the chart showed 

 how remarkably the wave-lines of death coincided with those above. He then 

 compared these diagrams with deaths from consumption, which, although they 

 showed a general resemblance to the wave-line, yet between the hours of four 

 to eight a.m. there was a depression, when compared with the first four hours' 

 period. He urged his professional brethren to assist him in his investigations by 

 foi-warding to him data for further investigation of this interesting subject. He 

 contended that the tables on the chart proved the extraordinary mortality in the 

 early hours of the morning, when the powers of life were at theii- lowest ebb, and, 



* For a more detailed account of these researches, see ' The Lancet ' for October 15tb, 

 1864. 



