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SECTIONAL TRANSACTIONS.—I. 433 
‘abnormal * R.Qs do not necessarily arise from errors in technique. When 
such ‘abnormal’ values are obtained under conditions when it is presumed 
“pumping out’ and ‘debt’ are excluded, how are they to be used for the 
determination of the energy expenditure in terms of calories ? 
34. Prof. A. T. Cameron'—The Effect of Absorbable Intestinal Toxins 
on Metabolism. 
Meat was digested with pepsin-HCl, the digest neutralised, and minced 
intestinal mucosa and pancreas added. The digest was subsequently infected with 
normal feces, and bacterial action allowed to proceed for ten to fourteen days. 
The mixture was strained through linen and added to 5 
5 volumes of alcohol. 
The filtrate, freed from alcohol, gave no biuret reaction. Injected daily, intra- 
muscularly, into dogs, it produced distinct chloride retention, and a rhythmic 
effect on totai-N and urea excretion (a fall, then a greater rise), which could 
be repeated by increasing the injection dose. The results may perhaps be 
compared with the chloride retention caused by artificial intestinal obstruction 
(Haden and Orr, 1923), and that which occurs after deep X-ray therapy, espe- 
cially of the epigastric region (observed by Cori and Pucher, 1923, and confirmed, 
in unpublished work, by the author and J. C. McMillan) 
35. Prof. G. H. Parxer.~The Carbon Dioxide excreted by Nerve. 
The amounts of carbon dioxide excreted by the lateral-line nerve of the dog- 
fish, the sciatic nerve of the frog, and the ventral chain of the lobster were 
determined by an indicator method. The quiescent frog nerve produced on the 
average nine thousandths of a milligram of carbon dioxide per gram of nerve 
per minute. In active nerve this was increased by about 12 per cent. By 
subtracting from the total amount of carbon dioxide produced by the lateral- 
line nerve the amount due to the connective tissue of this nerve, and by dividing 
the remainder by the number of nerve fibres in this nerve, it was shown that 
1 centimetre of quiescent cold-blooded nerve fibre excreted on the average twenty- 
nine billionths of a milligram of carbon dioxide per minuta. Weight for weight 
the resting frog nerve produces about the same amount of carbon dioxide as 
the resting human body does. 
36. Prof. Frank ALLEN and Dr. A. FEloutensera.—The Tactile 
Sensory Reflex. 
By interrupting a jet of air with a rotating sectored disc, the state of the 
tactile receptors on the volar aspect of the right index finger was measured 
when in their normal condition. It was found that the measurements conformed 
to the law D=—K log. P+C where D is the duration of the impression at the 
critical frequency of percussion of the interrupted air jet, and P the pressure. 
The experiments were repeated when the finger was fatigued by pressure. 
When the adjacent digits were bandaged it was found that the receptivity of 
the original tactile receptors was enhanced, thus showing the existence of a 
tactile sensory reflex. Post-fatigue and light-touch enhancement were also found 
to exist and were measured. The laws governing the sense of touch, and the 
influence of one finger on another, are similar to the effects obtained in optics. 
The results are applied to various physiological phenomena. 
37. Prof. Frepertck R. Minuer and Dr. H. M. Smmpson.—Studies in 
Visceral Reflexes. 
We have found that in the viscero-motor reflexes of Sherrington and 
MacKenzie, besides the abdominal muscles, the muscles of the hind limbs are 
involved as effectors. The hind-limb reactions consist in powerful, tonic, mus- 
cular contractions, associated with movements of escape. 
Viscero-motor reflexes were elicited by mechanical or chemical stimulation 
of various viscera, as well as by faradisation on visceral, sympathetic nerves. 
We suggest that the drawing-up of the legs in abdominal, visceral disease in 
man is dependent on reflex contractions of the psoas and iliacus muscles, since 
we observed the iliopsoas muscle to contract in the viscero-motor reflex. 
1924 FF 
