Pentosuria. 



135 



amyl alcohol carried out on cats has likewise shown a depressing 

 action on blood pressure, while 25 c.c. of ethyl alcohol failed to 

 show an appreciable change. Very small quantities of amyl alco- 

 hol (3 c.c. of a 2 per cent, solution) failed to reduce blood pressure 

 in dogs ; with larger quantities of it (10 c.c.) the fall of blood pres- 

 sure was 8 millimeters of mercury, when injected in one hundred 

 seconds. The same amount, however, when injected in seven sec- 

 onds lowered the blood pressure 50 millimeters of mercury. After 

 section of both vagi in dogs, the action of amyl alcohol was not 

 constant ; in two experiments the fall was greater, in one it was 

 less, than with the vagi intact. The action of ethyl alcohol under 

 these conditions likewise varied. In one experiment, amyl alco- 

 hol, 15 c.c. of a 2 per cent, solution, was injected after the intro- 

 duction of atropine sulphate, both vagi being cut ; the fall of blood 

 pressure was not as great as before the injection of atropine with 

 vagi cut, but the recovery of blood pressure to the same height as 

 it was before the introduction of atropine occurred in from two to 

 five minutes as against 35 seconds during the control period. 



In this connection, it might be mentioned that some observa- 

 tions on the effect of caffeine on the depressing action of alcohol, 

 amyl and ethyl, have been made. In both instances, there was a 

 marked retardation of recovery of blood pressure. After the in- 

 jection of 25 to 50 c.c. of 2 per cent, solutions of caffeine, the 

 recovery was delayed, fifteen or twenty minutes. 



72 (410) 



Pentosuria. 



By L. B. STOOKEY. 



\^From the Physiological Laboratory of the Utdversity of Southern 



Calif orniaP^ 



During the past two years one hundred urines which reduced 

 Fehling's solution slightly were examined for identification of the 

 reducing substance. In fifteen cases pentose was found to be 

 present. Identification was made by (1) phenyl pentosazone 

 crystals, (2) phloroglucin reaction, (3) absorption spectrum. The 

 nature of the pentose was not determined. In all cases several 

 specimens were examined under dietetic precautions in order to 

 exclude alimentary pentosuria. In these fifteen cases no carbo- 



