50 (220) Society for Experimental Biology and Medicine. 



In this investigation rabbits weighing about 1,500 grams 

 were used and the salts chiefly employed were sodium sulfate and 

 sodium phosphate. Sodium sulfate, in 4 per cent, and 25 per cent, 

 solutions, when injected subcutaneously in 15 c.c. doses, caused 

 no purgation in any of the experiments. Five or six hours after 

 an injection, the feces that were passed often weighed less than five 

 grams and were of normal consistence and form. Only rarely did 

 the total 24-hour fecal output exceed 1 5 grams and the pellets were 

 moderately hard, dry and well formed. Similar results were ob- 

 tained when 4.5 per cent, sodium phosphate, in 1 5 c.c. doses, was 

 injected subcutaneously. Both salts failed to cause purgation but 

 induced a moderate degree of constipation. 



The action of sodium sulfate and sodium phosphate on intestinal 

 peristalsis was also studied. The intestines of rabbits anesthetized by 

 morphin were observed with and without a saline bath. The sub- 

 cutaneous injection of sodium sulfate and sodium phosphate caused a 

 definite increase in the pendular motions of the small gut, especially 

 of the duodenum. These movements, however, were not of a 

 character to cause the evacuation of unformed feces, an impression 

 which was confirmed by the results already reported. Increased in- 

 testinal movements and purgation are therefore by no means syn- 

 onymous terms ; the two may possibly even be independent of 

 each other. Leubuscher, 1 for instance, found that 5-10 grams of 

 sodium sulfate or magnesium sulfate injected into the stomach of 

 rabbits produced in the majority of cases no increase in the fre- 

 quency or intensity of peristalsis. 



The experiments which have been briefly reported lead to the 

 conclusions first, that the subcutaneous injection of sodium sulfate 

 or sodium phosphate does not produce purgation in rabbits, and 

 secondly, that the pendular movements of the small gut are mod- 

 erately increased thereby. 



28 (120). " The effects of extra stimuli upon the heart in the 

 several stages of block, together with a theory of heart- 

 block " : JOSEPH ERLANGER. (Presented by S. J. 

 MELTZER.) 



This research was undertaken with the object primarily of test- 

 ing the statement made by Hering that the absence of a compen- 



1 Leubuscher : Virchcnu 1 s Archiv, 1886, civ, p. 104. 



