March 3, 1911] 



SCIENCE 



Oatalase Values 



341 



interest that the tissues and organs of the dog 

 which was subjected to the most prolonged period 

 of fasting exhibit less alteration from the normal 

 than do the tissues and organs of those animals 

 which were subjected to much shorter fasts. 



Demethylation in the Body: Wiluam Salant 

 and I. K. Phelps. 



Determinations of the urinary purins preoip- 

 itable by copper sulphate in sodium bisulphide 

 after the administration of eaffein indicate that 

 individuals of the same species vary considerably 

 in their power to demethylate this substance. 

 The amounts of purin nitrogen obtained from the 

 urine of two dogs when a total of four hundred 

 milligrams caffeine per kilo were given in eight 

 days were eight and thirty-two milligrams purin 

 nitrogen per kg. After feeding three hundred 

 milligrams caffeine per kilo to these animals 

 during the next four days eight and twenty-two 

 milligrams purin nitrogen per kilo were obtained. 

 After an interval of eight days the administra- 

 tion of caffeine was resumed and much greater 

 amounts of purin were found in the urine. In 

 one case the amount of purin per kilo was in- 

 creased two hundred per cent., although the 

 amount of caffeine given was only twenty per 

 cent, greater. In the other dog the increase of 

 purin nitrogen was sixty per cent, greater; the 

 amount of caffeine in this case was likewise in- 

 creased by twenty per cent. It was further ob- 

 served that demethylation remained relatively 

 unchanged when the caffeine was given daily. 

 Some Experiments on the Influence of the Diges- 

 tive Process on the Excretion of Oarion Diox- 

 ide: G. 0. HiGLET. 



The apparatus used in this work was the bal- 

 ance-chemograph. 



The food employed was one half a pound of 

 broiled beef-steak at each meal. The four sub- 

 jects were students in the University of Michigan. 

 No food was taken by the subject during the five 

 hours preceding an experiment. The subject re- 

 clined for fifteen minutes, then the " normal " was 

 determined. The food was now eaten and fifteen 

 minutes thereafter, and at regular intervals, de- 

 terminations of the carbon dioxide excretion were 

 made. 



The maximum increase over the normal was 

 twenty-five per cent, in one case and only 7.7 per 

 cent, in another case. 



The promptness of the increase was also quite 

 different, the increase over the normal being at 

 the end of thirty minutes, 1.2 per cent., 7 per 

 cent, and 11.9 per cent., respectively, in the case 

 of three subjects. 



The Incompatihility of Aloolwl with other 'Nu- 

 trients: 3. E. SiEBEL, Jr., M.D. 

 The incompatibility as subject of this paper 

 refers to a certain incompatibility with nutrients, 

 especially in persons constitutionally affected, 

 which is due to the fact that the human system, 

 having a choice, disposes first of alcohol before 

 other nutrients are affected in metabolism, as 

 proved by the classic feeding experiments of 

 Atwater and confirmed by the author's researches 

 on the electromotive force of nutrients showing a 

 maximum result for alcohol. 



Accordingly and supported by professional ex- 

 perience, it is concluded that for people constitu- 

 tionally afflicted with disorders in which, as in 

 arthritis and glycosuria, excesses of proteids and 

 saccharine food are to be avoided, such excesses 



