724 EEPORT — 1881. 



the folds of tlie coiled-iip tody, varied very much as the temperature of the air in 

 the cage, the curves falling or rising with it ; that of the female, taken in the 

 same way, was much more constant, particularly of the body between the folds. 

 Not only so, but the average temperature of the female was much higher, the 

 temperatures for the two sexes being respectively 86-7° F. and 89'76° F. between 

 the folds, and on the surface 82-6° F. and 84-4° F., giving differences of 305° and 1-9° 

 in favour of the female. In no case did the temperature of the male, taken be- 

 tween the folds, exceed that of the female ; and in most cases there was a marked 

 excess in that of the female, the average in one set of observations being as much 

 as 7'6°. In no case was any such difference as 20'0°, like that recorded by Sclater, 

 found. The highest temperature observed in the female was 92-8°; the highest 

 observed hj Valenciennes was 106-7°, or 14'0° higher. The gi-eatest difference be- 

 tween the surface of the snake and that of the air in the cage observed was 9'6° F. 



No such de:;line in temperature from the commencement to the end of incuba- 

 tion as was observed by Valenciennes could be made out in the present case. The 

 maxima were attained when the temperature of the surrounding air was also at its 

 highest, the range of the between-folds temperature being 6° (85'5° to 91'5°). 



8. On the Effect of the Voltaic Current on the Elimination of Sugar. 

 By W. H. Stone, M.B., F.B.C.P. 



The suggestion of employing electaicity in the form of a constant current in 

 cases of glycosuria appears to date from the year 1861, on September 2 of which 

 year M. Mariano Semmola read a paper before the French AcadtSmie des Sciences, 

 recorded in the ' Comptes Rendus ' of that date. He states his views as to the causa- 

 tion of the disease at considerable length in twenty-one propositions, referring to a 

 previous paper brought before the same society six years earlier. Generally he 

 attributes its occurrence either to exaggerated glycogenic action of the liver, or to 

 default of respiratory oxidation. The distinction between these two forms, he 

 thinks, can be made out by the permanence or the transient nature of the phenome- 

 non and by the large or small quantity of sugar excreted. Where glycosuria accom- 

 panies disease of the nervous system, the series of symptoms is of a double nature. 

 The first follows convulsive affections, such as epilepsy and hysteria ; it is usually 

 of short duration and evanescent ; the second, which accompanies organic cerebral 

 disease, must be looked on as a glycogenic stimulation of the fourth ventricle, and 

 persists as long as the brain-disease itself, developing in direct ratio to the proxi- 

 mity of the brain-lesion to the roots of the pneumogastric nerve. A more or less 

 definite congestion of the floor of the fourth ventricle he considers to be the patho- 

 logical condition constantly observed in diabetic patients. The action of electricity 

 seems to point to the disease having begun in an essential neurosis, which would 

 offer a reasonable chance of cure. This ^iew is strengtliened by the fact that when 

 diabetic patients are not carried off by tuberculosis, the cause of death is usually 

 some nervous crisis, such as epilepsy or dyspncea, due to apoplexy of the pons 

 varolii. In his fifteenth and following propositions M. Semmola states that stimu- 

 lation of the pneumogastric nerve by a direct current of sufficient force constantly 

 produces a diminution in the quantity of sugar eliminated, and sometimes in the 

 bulk of the secretion itself. These effects are passing, and only last from five to 

 ten hours. Occasionally, however, they are more durable, and may amount to 

 organic cure. He gives a case of a girl, aged 17, who became diabetic and amau- 

 rotic at the same time from a fright, and who recovered under galvanism. Elec- 

 tricity he considers not only a valuable therapeutical agent in such cases, but also 

 useful in diagnosis, as a means of distinguishing between an idiopathic neurosis and 

 one symptomatic of cerebral lesion. 



The merit of this somewhat forgotten memoir consists not only in the clearness 

 of the issues it raises, but also in the important distinction between neurotic and 

 organic glycosuria, which must have struck every independent observer. The clear 

 estabhshment of such a difference also goes far to explain the very variable results 

 of treatment in this most intractable disease, and the want of success which has 



