Scientific Proceedings. 



53 



administration of alcohol. They estimated oxidation in the body- 

 by the amount of phenol found in the urine after giving benzol. 

 By this method they obtained results which showed that the 

 oxidative processes in the body decreased 60-75 per cent, as a 

 result of administering alcohol. Their findings seemed to be con- 

 firmed later by PresnyakofT who studied this problem in a different 

 manner. He determined the amount of neutral sulphur before, 

 during and after the administration of alcohol and concluded that 

 the amount of unoxidized sulphur decreases during the alcohol 

 period. As his data, hardly justify such a conclusion, we decided 

 to reinvestigate the subject, with special reference to the amount 

 of unoxidized sulphur as affected by alcohol. In the course of 

 the research, however, it seemed to us desirable to study exactly 

 also the effects of alcohol on the other urinary constituents. We 

 carried out our experiments on a healthy dog kept in one of the 

 improved metabolism cages devised and described by Professor 

 Gies. 



The diet consisted of meat, cracker meal, lard, and bone ash, 

 given with definite amounts of water. Each experiment was begun 

 after the dog reached a constant weight. During the control 

 period 50 c.c. of water were given daily by mouth through a stom- 

 ach tube for 6 days. During the next 6 days 50 c.c. of alcohol 

 were administered in the same way. This was followed by another 

 alcohol period of 7 days, when the same daily volume of 70 

 per cent, alcohol was given. The alcohol was then discontinued 

 and water was given again for 10 days in the same way as in 

 the control period. Samples of forty-eight hour urine were 

 taken for analysis. The results of our observations on one dog 

 show that the neutral sulphur of the urine increased 12.68 per 

 cent., when 50 per cent, alcohol was given. When the same 

 amount of 70 per cent, alcohol was given the neutral sulphur in- 

 creased 52.88 per cent, as compared with that of the control period. 

 The amounts of neutral sulphur were as follows : Control period 

 — 27.2 per cent. First alcohol period, when 50 c.c. of alcohol 

 were given, the amount of neutral sulphur was 40.5 per cent, of the 

 total sulphur. During the third period, when 70 per cent, of alcohol 

 was given, the amount of neutral sulphur constituted nearly one 

 half of the total sulphur — 47 per cent. The total sulphur of the 



