88 



Scientific Proceedings (64). 



The abdomen was then carefully opened along the linea alba 

 and the intestines pulled out. This organ was then handled until 

 a condition of shock was brought about in the animal. 



In every experiment except two the water manometer registered 

 a change in leg volume immediately or within a few minutes after 

 the handling of the intestines had begun. In most instances the 

 manipulations of the gut resulted immediately in a slight fall of 

 volume with a fall in blood pressure which was followed in some 

 cases, in a few minutes, by partial or complete recovery of the 

 leg volume to normal. There seemed to be at the beginning of the 

 experiment a period of unstableness of the vaso-motor mechanism 

 in the leg, the arteries being alternately contracted and dilated, 

 without much disturbance in blood pressure. 



These variations in leg volume in most cases passed away in a 

 few minutes and the volume tracing from then on showed a 

 gradual fall to the end of the experiment. In one experiment 

 (January 31), the handling of the intestines immediately brought 

 about a slight fall in the volume of the leg with at first a fall then 

 a rise in blood pressure. 



When the handling ceased for two minutes, the leg volume went 

 up, the blood pressure remaining about normal. When the manip- 

 ulation was taken up again, there was a fall of volume. These 

 transitory changes in leg volume and blood pressure went on 

 through the whole experiment (52 minutes), the general trend of 

 the volume being downward so that at the end of the experiment 

 there was a permanent fall of 3 c.c. 



In all cases but one there was a fall of leg volume of from 2 

 c.c. to 10 c.c. 



In all cases but two the blood pressure was maintained 

 throughout the experiment, or at the end was higher than at the 

 beginning. 



In the experiment of January 13 where, up to the end, there 

 had been no change in the vaso-motor condition of the leg arteries, 

 as shown by the leg plethysmograph, the blood pressure was 91 

 mm. Hg at the beginning and had dropped to 65 mm. Hg at the 

 end. 



In the experiment of January 31, when the vaso-constriction 



