226 PROFESSOR RUTHERFORD ON THE 
it seems reasonable to regard the effect of the ammonium phosphate in this 
case as perhaps unduly exaggerated. 
Necropsy.—Nothing notable observed in the intestine. 
Result of Experiment with Ammonium Phosphate and Tannic Acid.—Am- 
monium phosphate is a powerful hepatic stimulant, but not so powerful as 
sodium salicylate. It is not an intestinal stimulant. Probably now that we 
have directed attention to the matter, it will be found to be a stimulant of the 
human liver also. Tannin does not appear to affect the liver, 
ACTION OF ACETATE OF LEAD. 
The well-known astringent effect of lead acetate in cases of diarrhoea renders 
it desirable to know whether or not it has the power of diminishing the secre- 
tion of bile. RouHRtcG (Op. vi. p. 270) experimented with acetate of lead, and 
found that 0°6 gramme (9°2 grains), dissolved in 4 ounces of warm water, and 
injected into the small intestine of a dog, diminished the secretion of bile. The 
erroneous nature of some of Rouric’s results, due to his very imperfect mode of 
experiment—as pointed out in the introduction—rendered necessary a re- 
investigation of the effects of lead acetate. 
It has already been stated that, in Experiment 53a, the administration of 
8 grains of lead acetate was followed by a diminution of the bile-secretion, 
but that the result was of an equivocal nature. In Experiment 54, 10 
grains produced no effect. In Experiment 57, a first dose of 8 grains, 
with a second dose of 12 grains, was indeed followed by a diminished bile- 
secretion; but, as stated in the 
description of that experiment, the 
result was entirely equivocal, and 
therefore other experiments were 
obviously required. 
Experiment 66. Dog that had 
fasted seventeen hours. Weight 
not ascertained (fig. 66).—Owing to 
great difficulty in introducing the 
biliary cannula, and consequent 
serious disturbance of the bile-duct 
and its surroundings, the secretion 
Fig. 66.—Secretion of lile before and after lead acetate. ear 
2 grains in 15 ce. of water injected into the duodenumat of bile became, as mostly happens 
land /,; 4 grainsin 32 ce. of water at 7; 4 grains in 15 cc. 
of water at 7,3 8 grains in 15 cc. of water at ly; and 10 in such a case, very irregular ; so 
evains in 15 ce. of water at 7, (80 grains given in all). 
much so, indeed, that the record of 
the first three hours is omitted from the chart. Two grains of lead acetate in 
15 cc. of water were injected in the duodenum at / and /,; 4 grains in 32 ce. 
