ON THE ACTION OF MERCURY ON THE BILIARY SECRETION. 201 
or leather straps with buckles. If the dog be a male, means must be taken 
to prevent the urine from reaching the sponge. ‘This is effectually done by a 
sheet of thin india-rubber, laced round the posterior part of the shield and 
body in front of the penis, so as fairly to prevent the access of a single drop 
of urine. The whole apparatus was removed, washed and reapplied once 
in the twenty-four hours. The sponge was then weighed and placed in the 
shield dry. At the end of the period it was removed and weighed again, to 
ascertain the amount of bile. ‘Two sponges are necessary for observations on 
a single dog, each sponge used on alternate days. They must be cleaned, 
after the collection of bile, with great care. It was found best to wash them 
in dilute hydrochloric acid, in order that they might be thoroughlydisinfected, 
for putrid matter soon produces decomposition of the bile. 
The shield should be firmly secured on the animal to prevent its being 
moved. ‘The Committee have in only one instance found it necessary to muzzle 
a dog while it wore the apparatus. 
The dogs were kept in large cages, the lower half of the sides and entire 
floor of which consisted of sheet zinc. The floor sloped to a central hole, 
through which the urine was collected. The dogs were mostly taken out to 
the open air for a few hours daily. 
OBSERVATIONS TO DETERMINE HOW TAR Dogs ARE SUBJECT TO THE ACTION OF 
Mercury. 
The Committee had not proceeded far with their experiments, before it 
became evident that a preliminary investigation was necessary, in order to 
determine how far dogs are capable of being influenced by mercurials. Al- 
though in veterinary and other works it is admitted that this animal may 
be salivated, although Overbeck states that by means of frictions with mer- 
ceurial ointment he succeeded in producing marked salivation with spongy gums 
in three dogs out of five *, and Murray in his experiments with large doses of 
calomel also produced salivation in one dog f, the Committee were of opinion 
that further careful observations should be made on this point. 
Accordingly great pains were taken by Dr. Gamgee to produce salivation in 
two dogs, by means of inunction of mercurial ointment, during the winter and 
spring of 1867. The hair of the animal was shaved from the back, and daily 
frictions made with the hand on the naked skin with strong mercurial ointment. 
In one dog a drachm of the ointment was rubbed in daily for twenty-eight 
days, and in another for eight days. No marked symptoms were produced, 
nor was their health impaired. In the first of those dogs a most elaborate 
series of observations on the urine was made to determine whether that secre- 
tion was in any way influenced. These consisted of careful analyses before 
and after the inunction, but with a negative result. 
The frictions occasioned so much trouble and loss of time, and appeared to 
be attended with such little result, that it was resolved to adopt the more 
commodious method of subcutaneous injection of a solution of corrosive sub- 
limate. This investigation was undertaken by Dr. W. Rutherford, who car- 
ried it to a successful termination, as seen in Table I. 
It will be seen from Table I. that of the six dogs experimented on, three 
had, and three had not biliary fistula established. This selection was made 
with a view to ascertain whether or not the existence of a biliary fistula 
affected the action of the mercurial. Of the six dogs, five were salivated by 
* Mercur und Syphilis (Berlin, 1861), pp. 110-114. 
fT Transactions of Med. and Phys, Society, Bombay, 1841. p. ll. 
