336 
NATURE 
[August 6, 1885 
deprivation of fat, the decomposition of the albumen during the 
period of fasting would have to be traced by regular determina- 
tions of the quantity of azote in the urine and the excrement. 
Prof. Voit had (as was already known) proved that on account 
of its ready decomposibility, fat was a protection against the 
decomposition of albumen ; such would necessarily be the case 
in the fasting organism likewise, and the corporeal fat would 
necessarily protect the albumen from decomposition. In point of 
fact Dr. Munk found in fasting animals that when they were poor 
in fat the decomposition of albumenislowly abated in correspond- 
ence with the ever less abatement of the weight, whereas in the 
case of individuals rich in fat, the nitrogenous secretions in the 
last period, after the corporeal fat at disposal had been decom- 
posed, did not only not abate, but even increased somewhat. 
The same cause as that followed by the nitrogenous secretion 
was also observed in the case of the elimination of sulphur. The 
exact process of albuminous decomposition during fasting thus 
offered an indication of the attainment of complete deprivation 
of fat in the body. The carrying out of the experiments was, 
however, attended with so many difficulties, that hitherto only 
one experiment had succeeded. It had reference to a 
large dog of three to four years old, weighing about 
35 kilogrammes, which had been made to fast for thirty- 
one days, and was then fed daily with 200 grammes 
of meat, 100 grammes of lime, 400 grammes of starch, and 500 
grammes of sugar, made into a preparation very acceptable to 
the dog. The gluten was occasionally added to the aliment 
to restrict the decomposition of the albumen. The experiment 
might be continued for twenty-five days; in the two last days 
diarrheea set in, and the dog was killed in order to determine 
precisely the contents of fat in the body. The weight of the 
body of the dog during the process of feeding had increased by 
four kilogrammes, and amounted at the end of the experiment 
to 27 kilogrammes. Of the albumen partaken only 800 grammes 
were left undecomposed in the whole body. At the outset, 
therefore, it could be inferred that the dog had formed and de- 
posited a considerable quantity of fat—an inference which was 
confirmed by the examination of the body. The fat of the 
underskin tissue and of the mesentery was carefully cut out, 
melted, and weighed. Then the amount of fat on the muscles 
was determined in particular samples, and the fat on all the 
muscles of the animal calculated. The fat of the liver was 
directly ascertained, and, finally, an account was taken of the fat 
of the bones, the nerves, and the other organs, which was admitted 
to be only half the amount which other physiologists had ob- 
tained on the same parts in an individual whose skin, muscle, 
and liver fat corresponded with that of the dog examined in the 
present case. Certainly the quantity of fat thus found was con- 
siderably less than the quantity actually formed during the time 
of the experiment. From this sum of fat deposited by the dog 
there was now deducted the total amount of the alimentary fat 
which had been appropriated, and of the fat which might have 
been formed from the decomposed albumen (12 percent.). The 
result was a remainder of over 900 grammes of fat formed by 
the dog, which was derivable neither from the alimentary fat 
nor from the decomposed albumen, and which had, therefore, to 
be attributed to the carbo-hydrates that had been copiously ad- 
ministered. The speaker instituted a second calculation, taking 
account of the assumption which had hitherto, however, never 
been proved or even rendered probable by a single experiment, 
but was purely a deduction from constitutional formula—the 
assumption, namely, that of the decomposed albumen as much 
as 51 per cent. might be utilised towards the formation of fat. 
But even under this supposition there still remained more than 
400 grammes of fat formed by the dog which, contrary to the 
doctrine of Prof. Voit, must have been produced from the carbo- 
hydrates. In compliance with a suggestion thrown out in the 
discussion of the question the speaker had, furthermore, calcu- 
lated as a fat-former the whole of the lime taken by the 
dog, although all experiments had demonstrated that lime 
in no case produced fat; and yet, after that item had 
been fully taken account of, there were about 60 grammes 
of fat left that could be derived only from the carbo- 
hydrates. Dr. Munk therefore deemed it indisputably 
demonstrated by this experiment that in the case of carni- 
vorous as well as omnivorous and herbivorous animals carbo- 
hydrates might in certain circumstances contribute towards 
the formation of fat.—Dr. Holtzke, following up a communica- 
tion recently made by him respecting the influence of narcotics 
on pressure in the eye, reported experiments he had made con- 
cerning the influence of the blood-pressure on the intra-ocular 
pressure. The view had hitherto been universally accepted that 
the pressure in the eye was dependent on the blood pressure, 
and a series of experiences and experiments had been collected 
by way of proving this dependence. The nerves had likewise 
shown that they exerted an influence on the pressure in the eye, 
so far as they influenced the vascular system. Of the sympathetic 
in particular it was asserted that its paralysis induced an aug- 
mentation, whereas stimulation of the nerve caused a diminution 
of the intraocular pressure, and this converse process was said to 
be connected with the expansion and contraction of the vessels. 
Seeing, however, that some investigators maintained that the 
effect of the sympathetic on the pressure of the eye was exactly 
the opposite to that just referred to, the speaker had instituted 
new measurements by means of a manometer, utilising tre 
second eye in the way of control. The result at which he 
arrived by this means was that the cutting of the sympathetic 
always entailed an abatement of the pressure to an average of 
6mm. mercury, and that stimulation of the peripheral nerve 
ending caused an increase of the pressure amounting to 14mm. 
mercury. Stimulation of the supreme ganglion of the sym- 
pathetic had the same effect. If the veins of the neck were 
bound on the under side and the carotid was compressed then 
had neither the cutting nor the stimulation of the sympathetic 
absolutely any effect on the pressure in the eye—a proof that the 
influence of the sympathetic as above stated was only mediate, 
that the paralysis of the sympathetic induced the lowering of the 
ocular pressure only in consequence of the decrease of pressure 
in the vascular system and that the stimulation of the nerve 
caused the increase of the intra-ocular pressure only because of a 
rise of pressure in the blood. An experiment with a view to 
measuring the influence of the sympathetic on an atropinised 
eye did not yield perfectly decisive results, a circumstance which 
determined the speaker to investigate once more the influence of 
atropine on the ocular pressure. The result was somewhat 
different from that recently communicated. It was now ascer- 
tained with perfect certainty that the influence of atropine by 
itself was a diminution of the ocular pressure and therefore the 
contrary of that of eserine. Only when the pupil was power- 
fully expanded by the atropine did the pressure in the eye rise 
in correspondence with the other experiences that each expansion 
of the pupil was accompanied by an augmentation of pressure, 
and each contraction of the pupil was followed by an abatement 
of the ocular pressure. On the expansion and contraction of 
the pupil, the rise or the reduction of the blood-pressure became, 
in turn observable, and this latter again on its side generated a 
rise, or, as it might be, a fall of the pressure in the eye. This 
parallelism of the ocular and the blood-pressure the speaker had 
found to hold good in all his experiments. The pressure in the 
vitreous body invariably showed the same changes as did the 
pressure in the watery chamber. 
CONTENTS PAGE 
A Possible Windfall for Science ......... 313 
Professor Tait’s ‘‘ Properties of Matter.” By Lord 
Rayleigh, FIRJS: 5 js ch. =. 01s 
Grisebach’s ‘‘ Vegetation of the Earth. By W. 
Botting Hemsley 2.4.5. 2 (2 «sf eee 
Letters to the Editor :— 
Nomenclature in Elasticity.—Robert E. Baynes . 316 
Earthquake-Proof Buildings.—D. A. Stevenson . 316 
A Mechanical Telephone.—W. J. Millar .... 316 
Electrical Phenomenon.—J. B. A. Watt. .... 316 
Our Ancestors.—(=) oe a ae Bn 
Co-Ordination of the Scientific Bureaus of the U.S. 
Government 60. sks ete) el se oe 
The Lick Observatory; 2 2 20. 2) 6) ee 
Twilight 2.0 <3 3 5 3 ss Bert 0 ne 
Henry Milne-Edwards <0 ° <0... )< + eee 
Radiant Light and Heat. By Prof. Balfour Stewart, 
EOR-S. (Wustrated) 2. a =) 2 3 5) ee ee 
Notes’... oe sem ravei ose een a eral 
Astronomical Phenomena for the Week 1885, 
AUgUStIQ=15: 3." 5 efor enya aelete nent e Nteiten (ys tne 
Dr. Perkin on the Coal TarColours. ....... 330 
Faunalof Trans-Alay ics jaeire t=) «fe one 
Scientific/Serialsicemi) maemsy eter ca) vs) es ooh eR 
Societies‘and;Academiesi. 5 2. 3 3. =. « « oy) cuetGy 
