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Scientific Proceedings (128) 



hypoglycemia even during the most acute symptoms shortly be- 

 fore death. The alkali reserve almost invariably decreased after 

 the operation; it might be normal even during tetany. Corre- 

 sponding to this drop of the alkali reserve there was an increase 

 in the excretion of acids and there was no evidence of alkalosis, 

 even close before the very onset of tetany. Calcium dropped 

 from the normal value of 10 mg. per 100 c.c. serum and was, 

 when tetany occurred, always below 7 mg. usually much lower. 

 There seemed in this acute stage to be a certain relation between 

 the degree of the lowering of calcium and the violence of the 

 symptoms. The inorganic phosphorus of the blood serum in- 

 creased considerably. After the initial rise the phosphorus might 

 drop again, but still seemed to be decidedly above the normal 

 value. 



2. The Fate of Intravenously Injected Calcium Chloride in 

 Parathyroidectomized Dogs. 



One of the reasons why the decrease in calcium found in tetany 

 is not regarded as the essential cause of the symptoms of para- 

 thyroidectomized dogs is, that they die in spite of calcium injec- 

 tions. This may be due to rapid elimination or carrying away 

 of the injected calcium in some manner. The doses used by 

 MacCallum and Voegtlin and others have been relatively small. 

 In the present experiments 3 dogs were treated intravenously 

 with a 10 per cent, solution of calcium chloride. A total of 2 

 grams a day was injected. This checked the symptoms, but 

 almost invariably there was violent tetany again the next day, 

 which was checked by a new injection. Such doeses of calcium 

 must raise the calcium content of the body fluids considerably, 

 and it is easy to calculate how much it will be raised knowing the 

 value of blood calcium before injection, the weight of the dog 

 and assuming an even distribution. Now, whenever convulsions 

 reappeared after injection, the serum calcium always was found 

 to be down to the same low level again, which shows that the 

 injected calcium is disposed of in some manner. 



To clear up this question 3 of the tetanic dogs were given a 

 fixed dose of calcium chloride intravenously and the urine and 

 feces for 24 hours were analyzed for calcium. The curves for 

 the serum calcium and phosphorus were determined during this 

 period. 



