82 



Scientific Proceedings (57). 



survive the injection several hours or longer there is a profound drop 

 in temperature (as much as 6 degrees Fahrenheit) and numerous 

 petechia? are found in the heart muscle and in the gastro-intestinal 

 tract. The intravascular precipitation of hematin can be repro- 

 duced in vitro by allowing the venous blood of a hirudinized 

 rabbit and 0.5 per cent, hematin solution to flow together. The 

 precipitation is not quantitative and its mechanism is not yet 

 clearly established, but it is probably due to some constituent 

 of the blood serum or plasma. Hematin itself is insoluble in blood 

 serum of the rabbit. Injected intraperitoneally hematin is pre- 

 cipitated from alkaline solution in the peritoneal cavity of the 

 animal. 



In addition to the experimental work on rabbits, the blood 

 sera of 19 patients with malarial organisms in the blood were 

 examined for hematin. The blood was taken before and after 

 the paroxysm and before the administration of quinine. In no 

 case was hematin demonstrable. The quantity of hematin which 

 can be detected spectroscopically in human blood serum in 7 cm. 

 layers is less than 1 part in 3,000. 



48 (865) 



The effect of pituitary extract on the secretion of milk in the cow. 



By R. L. Hill and Sutherland Simpson. 



[From the Department of Physiology and Biochemistry, Medical Col- 

 lege, and the Department of Animal Husbandry, College of 

 Agriculture, Cornell University.] 



Ott and Scott (1), Schafer and Mackenzie (2), Mackenzie (3), 

 and Hammond (4) are agreed that the intravenous, intramuscular 

 or subcutaneous administration of pituitary extract (posterior lobe) 

 to lactating animals causes a marked increase in the rate of secre- 

 tion of the mammary gland. The effect appears within twenty or 

 thirty seconds after injection and lasts for three or four minutes. 



In order to find out what effect the extract might have on the 

 total quantity of milk per diem and on its quality Gavin (5) 

 experimented with dairy cows under ordinary farm conditions; he 



