134 



Scientific Proceedings (75). 



Summary. 



1. In the blood of the normal albino rat the blood plate count 

 approximates 1,000,000 per c.c. and is fairly constant. 



2. The total leucocyte count is variable and reacts violently 

 to ulcerative processes. 



3. The reaction of the cellular elements of the blood to the 

 growth of transmissible sarcoma is slight and probably in no way 

 characteristic. 



4. Benzol injections produce a more rapid and proportionately 

 greater reduction in the leucocytes of the blood than in the plates. 



75 ("39) 



Gravimetric determination of beta-oxybutyric acid. 

 By Donald D. Van Slyke. 



[From the Department of Chemistry of the Rockefeller Institute.] 



If beta-oxybutyric acid is oxidized with dichromate in the 

 presence of sulfuric acid and mercuric sulfate, a precipitate of the 

 acetone compound of mercury sulfate can be obtained in an 

 amount proportional to the beta-oxybutyric present. Thus, if 

 175 c.c. of a beta-oxybutyric solution containing 9 per cent, of 

 sulfuric acid, 2 per cent, of mercuric sulfate, and 0.25 gram of 

 potassium dichromate are boiled under a reflex for an hour, 7.7 

 milligrams of mercury-acetone compound are precipitated for each 

 milligram of beta-oxybutyric acid present. The beta-oxybutyric 

 acid may vary from I to 9 mg. without affecting the ratio, if the 

 concentrations of the other reagents are kept constant. 



76 (1140) 

 Complement fixation in tuberculosis. 



By H. R. Miller, M.D. and Hans Zinsser, M.D. 



[From the Department of Bacteriology, College of P. and S., Columbia 

 University, New York.] 



In a recent communication to the New York Pathological 

 Society, the material of which is to appear in the American Journal 



