1082 General Notes. [ October, 
nected with the walls of the renal vessels. Stimulation of the 
proximal end of the divided sciatic nerve is accompanied bya 
rise of general blood pressure but by a fall in the volume of the 
kidney; which change, as in the previous case, is due to a vaso- 
motor reflex. e same results follow poisoning by strychnia 
When the splanchnics are cut at the level of the diaphragm there 
is a slight momentary decrease in the volume of the kidney, and 
then a return to the normal. When the central or anterior end of 
a divided splanchnic is irritated, the volume of the kidney is 
diminished on both sides, showing a reflex vaso-motor consttic- 
tion. Essentially the same effect follows when the peripheral 
ends of the divided splanchnics are stimulated. Vaso-motot 
fibers for both kidneys may run in the splanchnic of one side, 
but individuals differ in the extent to which this appears to occur. 
Vaso-motor fibers proceed to the kidney by paths other than the 
splanchnic nerves. 
Complete or partial closure of one renal artery, during the 
course of an experiment, has no influence upon the blood current 
or the volume of the other kidney, nor does stopping the circu- 
lation in large extra-renal arteries, as those of the limbs, cause 
any change in the volume of the kidneys. The volume of the | 
kidney was likewise quite uninfluenced when a dog under obser- 
vation was surrounded alternately with ice-cold water and water 
heated to the body temperature. 
THE ACTION oF ETHYL ALCOHOL UPON THE Doc's HEART— | 
Professor Martin, with the assistance of a pupil, Mr. Stevens, has : 
entered the debating ground of alcohol-physiology vit : 
new and definite and therefore welcome statements Ol facts 0 
regard to this subject. In the experiments of these gentlemen, 
the living but completely isolated dog’s heart was suppil¢ | 
a flask with an artificial current of warm blood, to which 
ed dimi- 
result is, in most cases, the same, but sometimes is litt 
After the action of the alcohol has been fully mam x 
heart can, in many cases, be restored to its original p Wi 
d, undet 
the action of the alcohol, with increasing relaxation pi on 
and decreasing extent of contraction in systole, until ake 
ance offered by the pericardium prevented farther increase ‘pat 
in the heart cavities, and as the extent to which these ese 
