132 



SGIENGE. 



[N. S. Vol. V. No. 108. 



mainly limited to the right part of the 

 stomach. 



Later Dr. Meltzer demonstrated the above 

 stated results on the stomach of a well an- 

 sesthetized dog. 



An experimental investigation of some of the con- 

 ditions influencing the secretion and composi- 

 tion of bile. (With Mr. A. Balch.) Fe. 

 Pfaff. 



The subject of the investigation was a 

 female patient of the Massachusetts General 

 Hospital. Dr. H. H. A. Beach had operated 

 on the patient for distention of the gall 

 bladder. As a result of the operation a 

 fistula remained, through which all the bile 

 secreted was discharged. The jaundice, 

 which existed before, disappeared completely 

 in the course of a few weeks, the urine be- 

 coming bile free. The fseces remained 

 completely clay-colored. At the time the 

 investigation was begun by Dr. Pfaif and 

 Mr. A. Balch, a student in the Harvard 

 Medical School, the patient felt perfectly 

 well. The bile escaping through the fistu- 

 lous opening was collected in graduated 

 jars, measured and analyzed every six hours. 

 The specific gravity, the total amount of 

 solids, and the ash of each sample of bile 

 were determined. 



The influence of human bile, ox bile, 

 salol, sublimate, calomel and a mixture of 

 pure bile salts on the daily excretion and 

 the composition of the bile was studied. 

 Human bile, ox bile and the mixture of the 

 pure bile salts, dried and made into pills, 

 increased the daily secretion and the amount 

 of solids. Salol had scarcely any effect. 

 Sublimate and calomel, if anything, slightly 

 decreased the daily secretion. During the 

 time of observation, ninety- seven days, the 

 patient remained perfectly well, and has in- 

 creased in weight from 113i to 127 pounds. 



TJie production of sugar from gelatine in 

 metabolism. G. Lusk. 

 Experiments described at the last meet- 



ing showed that subcutaneous injection of 

 phlorhizin every eight hours into starving 

 rabbits produced, after the first day, the 

 removal of dextrose through the urine in a 

 constant ratio to the nitrogen eliminated at 

 the same time. The ratio may be repre- 

 sented thus : D : N : : 2. 8 : 1. This condi- 

 tion the author terms ' total phlorhizin 

 diabetes,' since the ratio is the same as 

 obtained by Minkowski after the extirpation 

 of the pancreas in dogs, in ' total pancreas 

 diabetes. ' If rabbits with total phlorhizin 

 diabetes be fed with 5 grams of gelatine, 

 there is a simultaneous rise in both sugar 

 and nitrogen in the urine of the correspond- 

 ing day, showing respectively the absorption 

 of the gelatine and the production of sugar 

 from it. The proportion between dextrose 

 and nitrogen is represented in one case by 

 2.5 : 1. Further experiments upon dogs, 

 to whom gelatine is obviously a more 

 natural food than to rabbits, are in progress 

 in the author's laboratory. According to 

 Kiilz ' phloridzin ' and ' phlorizin ' are 

 false orthography. 



Demonstration of a convenient form of appiaratus^ 

 to avoid explosions in gas analysis. G. T. 

 Kemp. 



The apparatus is a new and simple form 

 of grisoumeter for use with mercury. The 

 gas mixture, instead of being exploded by 

 the electric spark, is subjected to the action 

 of a platinum spiral heated white hot by an 

 electric current. This causes the complete 

 combustion of gases in non-explosive pro- 

 poi'tions, obviates the addition of explosive 

 mixtures, and allows the gases that are to- 

 be analyzed, when present in small amount, 

 to be diluted with a neutral gas to a volume 

 convenient for handling in the different 

 steps of the analysis. 



Tlie structure of the sympathetic ganglia of ver- 

 tebrates, ivith demonstration of preparations.^ 



G. C. HUBER. 



Sympathetic ganglia taken from various 



