July 28, 1893.J 



SCIENCE. 



49 



very irregular, light in texture ; biliary matter freely scattered ; 

 blood discs distended and with ragged edges ; red corpuscles con- 

 gregated in masses ; fibrioe forming in heavy clots; blood rapidly 

 coagulating ; black spores are quickly fastening in the fibrine. 



We have here, in the 14th day sick and the 16th day sick cases, 

 black spores in active motion and b'liary matter in both cases, and 

 the corpuscles distended bladder-shaped, in ragged-edged condi- 

 tion; the fibrine quickly clotting. And in the captain's case, 

 which was the worst of all, we have still black spores, biliary 

 matter, and ragged-edged corpuscles. 



In the 6th week case, a much milder case, moreover, than any 

 of the others, it is reasonable to assume that in some way the 

 patient has quickly eliminated the poison. There is no biliary 

 matter in his blood, no black spores, no abnormal fibrine, no dis- 

 tension of red corpuscles; the latter are perfectly formed in rou- 

 leaux. 



Examinatian of urine of Henry Oelrichs (second mate, bark 

 "Pax"), July 17th, 1893 (14th day of beriberi): — 



Odor, light, aromatic, and feverish. 



Color, light (yellow) amber. 



Reaction, excessively acid. 



Appearance, transparent. 



Specific gravity, 1.032 +. 



Weight of a fluid ounce, 470.27 grains. 



Solids in a " " 35.06 " 



Nature of deposit, mucus. 



Quantity of deposit, trace. 



Bile, coloring matter not present. 



Salts, " 



Sugar, Fehling's solution, trace. 

 Chromate solution, " 



Ny lander's solution, " 



Sacchrimeter grammes in a litre, 0.00 +. 



Albumen, nitric acid, 1 fl. | , not present. 

 Picric solution, trace. 

 Touret's solution, " 

 Bichromate solution, not present. 

 Bichloride solution, trace. 

 Millard's solution, " 



Polariscopic grammes in a litre, 0.00 -(-. 



Microscopical appearances: — 



Pus corpuscles, trace in quantity. 



Epithelium, bladder, trace in quantity. 



Quantitative examination : — 



Urea, proportion per fluid ounce 6.605 grains. 



Percentage of 1.404 



Total, quantitative examination. . . . 66.050 grains. 



Chlorine 960 grains. 



304 

 9.600 grains. 



Sulphuric acid 993 grains. 



310 

 9.920 grains. 



Phosphoric acid '. 1.024 grains. 



201 

 10.340 grains. 



Carbonic acid gas 1. 120 grains. 



387 

 11.300 grains. 

 Results on a net basis : — 



Urea 1.40 



Water 95.00 



Sugar 0.00 -f- 



Foreign 3.76 



Albumen 0.00 + 



Chlorine 20-)- 



Sulphuric acid 21 



Phosphoric acid 20 



Carbonic acid gas 23 



100.00 



Traces of sugar and carbonic acid gas are commonly observed 

 in the urine of beriberi patients. 



Dr. Wallace Taylor, Osaka, Japan, sends me three interesting 

 tables, which he made from examinations of 134 cases of beri- 

 beri. These examinations were made with Hayem's bwmatome- 

 ter and Gower's heemacytometer. The average corpuscular rich- 

 ness for the 134 cases is 94 per cent. This, he says, corresponds 

 to the clinical experience in cases of beriberi. Most of the cases 

 of beriberi seen by the general practitioners are well-fed, well- 

 nourished, full-blooded appearing men. The ill-fed, poorly-nour- 

 ished, weak constitution cases are the exception. During the 

 past few years he has kept a record of the physical condition of 

 the beriberi patients, and he gives this record, together with an- 

 other record, of a beriberi hospital in Tokio: — 



Beriberi 



Taylor. Hospital. Sum. 



Of strong constitution, 823 593 916 



" average " 15 27 42 



" weak " 9 6 15 



Thus, in a total of 973 beriberi patients, there were 94 per cent 

 of strong constitution (a result almost identical with that given in 

 his tables), and only 6 per cent of average and weak constitutions. 



"These numbers," says Taylor, "are large enough to be con- 

 clusive, and anaemia is not one of the pathological conditions of 

 beriberi." 



In his table No. 3 there is shown a general diminution of the 

 hsemoglobine. The average hsemoglobine in 101 cases is 81 per 

 cent. In some of these cases the amount is very low, being below 

 65 per cent, and with but few exceptions the per cent of hsemo- 

 globine is below the per cent of corpuscles, showing a deficiency of 

 the individual corpuscles in heemoglobine. 



The appearance of biliary matters, which I have shown in 

 my analyses of the four cases of the bark "Pax," would show by 

 itself a deficiency of heemoglobine. 



In the Tribune Medicate, Sept. 10, 1891, Messrs. Bertin-Sans 

 and Moitessier show that it is the presence of hydrogen and car- 

 bonic acid in oxicarbonized blood that prevents the total destruc- 

 tion of heemoglobine. 



By sweeping their solution of oxicarbonized blood and water, 

 with a current of hydrogen and carbonic acid gas, and an addi- 

 tion of sulphide of ammonia, they obtained the spectrum of re- 

 duced h^moglobine. They thus show that oxicarbonized haemo- 

 globine can be readily transformed into a mixture of methaemo- 

 globine and oxide of carbon. It is therefore reasonable to suppose 

 that in an outbreak of beriberi where we have the presence of 

 oxides of carbon and a deficiency of hfemoglobine (observable in 

 all cases of beriberi) the latter is the effect of the former. 



In Japan, the universal burning of charcoal produces the oxides, 

 which held down in the low places by the moist atmosphere of 

 the beriberi season, there is produced on a large scale and contin- 

 ually during the moist season what happens on board of each of 

 those ships which come to us from the East with carbonized car- 

 goes and beriberi-sick crews. 



THE STRUCTURE AND AFFINITY OF THE PUERCO UN- 

 GULATES. 



BY CHARLES BARLE, B. SO. (PRINCETON). 



The discovery in 1880 by Baldwin of the presence of mamma- 

 lian remains in the Puerco beds of New Mexico, was one of the 

 most important in the history of vertebrate paleontology in this 

 country. This rich mammalian fauna has been wholly described 

 by that able investigator. Professor E. D. Cope, and to him we 

 are indebted for having made known to the scientific world the 

 interesting mammals which are imbedded in this formation. 



As I have lately been studying a collection in the American 

 Museum of Natural History from the Puerco, I propose in this 

 paper to sum up some of the results of my investigations as re- 

 lating in particular to the primitive ungulates of this formation, 

 and especially to attempt to place some of these forms in or near 

 their proper phylogenetic positions in the system. 



