n8 



Scientific Proceedings (29). 



70 (326) 



The relation of the weight of the stomach- and cecum- 

 contents to the body weight in rabbits. 



By DON R. JOSEPH. 



[From the Department of Physiology and Pharmacology of the 

 Rockefeller Institute for Medical Research.'] 



In much of our experimental work on mammals, we regulate 

 our dosage in accordance with the weight of the animal. This is 

 a source of error in the rabbit on account of the large size of the 

 stomach and cecum in this animal. In order to find out how great 

 this error is, I removed and weighed the contents of these two 

 organs in one hundred rabbits which were used in the laboratory. 



The details of these determinations will be given in the full 

 report of this work. At present, I wish to say only that the aver- 

 age weight of the contents of these organs in the one hundred 

 animals examined is equal to about ten per cent, of the total body 

 weight of the living animal. 



Grober 1 has recently made a similar series of observations, but 

 he tied off, weighed and included, the stomach and cecum with 

 their contents. According to my results, this is the source of 

 another error which in some cases is almost as great as the inclu- 

 sion of stomach- and cecum-contents in the body weight. 



71 (327) 



The inhibitory influence of magnesium upon some of the toxic 



effects of eserin. 



By Don R. Joseph. 



\From the Department of Physiology and Pharmacology of the 

 Rockefeller Institute for Medical Research.] 



In a paper on the relation of magnesium salts to gastrointes- 

 tinal peristalsis, Meltzer and Auer 2 stated that they were able to 

 completely inhibit the general muscular tremor caused by eserin, 

 by means of injections of magnesium sulfate. 



Matthews and Jackson 3 stated later they did not obtain a like 



1 Grober: Untersuchungen zur Arbeitshypertrophie des Herzens. Deutsches Arch, 

 f. klin. Med., 1907, xci, p. 504. 



2 Meltzer and Auer: Amer. Journ. Physiol., 1906, xvii, p. 317. 

 'Matthews and Jackson: Amer. Journ. Physiol., 1907, xix, p. 12. 



