36 



Scientific Proceedings (102). 



9. The pentosans on the one hand and the albuminous com- 

 pounds on the other are intimately intermixed or interwoven 

 in the protoplast of the plant and in the nucleus of the animal 

 cell. The conditions which accelerate the hydration of the first 

 may not affect the volume of the other except to cause a slight 

 shrinkage. The effect of the hydrogen ion is to increase the 

 hydration capacity of albumin and its derivatives, while lessening 

 the hydration of the carbohydrates. 



10. In addition to these differential effects of the solutions 

 upon the principal components of the plasmatic colloids, the 

 changes in volume are not isotropic but may be determined by 

 the manner in which the mesh, masses of colloidal material or 

 organs of the protoplast are laid down or fall into place. These 

 two classes of variables may well be considered as prolific sources 

 of differentiation in the procedure of the cell. 



20 (1480) 



Profound effects of digitalis on the vagus producing severe 

 detrimental subjective symptoms, as shown by simultaneous 

 electro-cardiograms and pneumograms. 



By Robert H. Halsey (by invitation). 



[From the New York Post-Graduate Medical School.} 



In a case of syphilis, chronic interstitial nephritis, dilatation 

 and hypertrophy of the heart, auricular fibrillation, arterio- 

 sclerosis, periodic breathing, Cheyne-Stokes type, in which because 

 the auricule was fibrillating, digitalis had been given for the pur- 

 pose of showing the ventricular rate. Counts of the pulse showed 

 the ventricle to be contracting at a rate approximating 100 during 

 apnea and slowing to about half this rate as soon as hyperpnea 

 began. That is, the heart rate was highest while there was no 

 lung ventilation (apnea) and the heart beat less frequently during 

 the period the lung ventilation was greatest (hyperpnea). 



As the digitalis was continued the man complained of increasing 

 distress, most severe during his hyperpnea. The ventricle rate 

 did not become slower and evidently the patient was much more 

 uncomfortable. The thought occurred that releasing the heart 



