﻿SOME SIMPLE LABORATORY APPARATUS 



By R. B. Gibson 



(From the Department of Physiology, College of Medicine and Surgery, 

 University of the Philippines) 



Three text figures 



The results of the physiological experiments, as taught in the 

 laboratory, are often lost to the student because the complexity 

 of the apparatus distracts him from the actual observation. 

 Moreover, the use of expensive physiological apparatus in many 

 experiments necessitates either demonstration work or the em- 

 ployment of groups of students, I have found, particularly with 

 Filipinos, that it is highly desirable from a pedagogic stand- 

 point to simplify the experiments so that more of them may be 

 performed and reported by each student individually. 



In developing a course along these lines, three pieces of appa- 

 ratus have already proved so useful that it has seemed worth 

 while to describe them. 



THE THERMOESTHESIOMETER 



This thermoesthesiometer (fig. 1) is made by inserting a wire 

 nail through a small cork which is then fitted into the constricted 

 end of the glass chamber of the Porter muscle warmer or finger 

 plethysmograph (suppHed by the Harvard Apparatus Company). 

 The other opening is provided with a suitable cork. A wire 

 test-tube holder forms the handle. 



For use, the glass chamber is filled with ice shavings or with 

 hot water. A single charge of the ice or hot water is more than 

 sufficient for locating the hot or cold points of the skin, when 

 observed in the usual way. 



A VENOUS-PRESSURE APPARATUS 



The simple arrangement (fig. 2) may be used in place of the 

 von Recklinghausen 1 and the Eyster and Hooker- apparatus for 

 venous pressures in man. ^ 



A finger of a discarded rubber surgical glove is cut off and 

 drawn over a small glass filter funnel. The tip of the finger is 

 carefully trimmed away as in the illustration. The funnel is 



'Arch. f. Exp. Path. u. Pharm. (1906), 55, 470. 

 ''Bull. Johns Hopkins Hosp. (1908), 19, 274. 



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