Nitrogen in Tissues in Renal Disease. 33 



Rabbits exhibit little or no resistance towards a virulent 

 strain of Bacillus avisepticus while dogs are not affected by a 

 subtoxic dose. These bacteria are not agglutinated in the circula- 

 tion of rabbits and soon begin to multiply and produce a fatal 

 septicemia. In dogs, on the other hand, they are agglutinated 

 and rapidly disappear from the circulation and no true septicemia 

 follows, and as stated, a subtoxic dose causes no symptoms in 

 these animals. 



Hence, in the several instances studied, agglutination of 

 bacteria within the circulation of the infected animal is followed 

 by an abrupt disappearance of the bacteria from the blood stream, 

 by accumulation of the agglutinated bacteria within the internal 

 organs, and by phagocytosis of the bacterial clumps by the 

 polymorphonuclear leucocytes, and a true septicemia does not 

 arise. 



21 (1085) 



Accumulation of nitrogen in the tissues in renal disease. 



By Helen Davis and Nellis B. Foster, M.D. 



[From the Department of Medicine, Cornell Medical College, and the 

 New York Hospital.] 



The retention of nitrogen as a manifestation of certain types 

 of renal disease is a well-recognized phenomenon. When the 

 conditions of study are carefully controlled with accurate analyses 

 of the food and excreta the amounts of nitrogen retained in the 

 body is, with severe cases, very large — two grams per day for 

 periods of two weeks is not an exceptional amount. Since these 

 patients are usually quite sick and commonly manifest no sign of 

 improvement so long as the retention persists it is inconceivable 

 that this nitrogen is retained for tissue growth in a physiological 

 sense. On the other hand while the blood of these patients 

 often shows on analysis an increase in non-protein nitrogen the 

 figure may not r'se to any significant degree and never becomes 

 sufficiently high so as to account for more than a small fraction 

 of the nitrogen retained. We have also noted with several 

 patients during metabolism studies a flushing out of nitrogen so 

 that there resulted large minus balances during periods of improve- 



