406 
EMPLOYMENT OF IODIDE OF SODIUM. 
nutritive elements, and not by merely filling the first pas¬ 
sages. 2. The peristaltic motion of the intestines takes 
place with the same power within the abdominal cavity as 
when exposed to the atmospheric air. its propelling power 
equals a column of water twenty-four inches high. 3. The 
alimentary canal has its periods of rest and action. 4. The 
quantity of enteric juice secreted is invariably small, and of 
alkaline reaction. Its per-centage of solids averages 5' 47. 
5. Enteric juice is capable of digesting amylaceous and 
protein substances. 6. Enteric juice converts starch into grape 
sugar. 7» Enteric juice prepares protein substances for assi¬ 
milation under the phenomena of putrescence. 8. Enteric 
juice leaves cane sugar unchanged. 9. Cane sugar, ab¬ 
sorbed as such, is not discharged in the urine. 10. Fat, 
unless exposed to the action of bile or pancreatic juice, is 
absorbed either not at all or in insignificant quantity,. 
11. Food appears between fifteen or thirty minutes after 
being taken in the superior third of the small intestine. 12. 
Solution of cane sugar disappears in part before entering the 
small intestine; all that enters the larger is converted into 
grape sugar. 13. Raw albumen taken from hens 5 eggs is 
directly absorbed in the stomach and the adjoining portion 
of the small intestine. All that descends to the lower por¬ 
tion of the larger is unchanged. 14. Gum is not converted 
into sugar, but remains unchanged. 15. Gelatine is dissolved, 
and loses thereby its coagulability. 16. Casein remains 
partly dissolved in the digestive fluids. 17. Fat is entirely 
emulgated by the digestive fluids when alkaline or neutral, 
but partially when acid. 18. The digestive liquids of the 
small intestines possess digestive powers over protein sub¬ 
stances. 19* The minimum of all digestive fluids entering 
the small intestine in the course of twenty-four hours, 
amounts to more than the seventeenth part of the weight of 
the body .—Medical Times and Gazette. 
ON THE EMPLOYMENT OF IODIDE OF SODIUM. 
By Alexander Ure, Esq., F.B.C.S. 
“ I submit to the profession the following observations 
respecting a medicine, w hich will, I trust, be found useful in 
practice. Iodide of sodium is met with in the ashes of sea¬ 
weed, and of various plants wdiich grow on the sea-shore. 
To this source may be reasonably ascribed the belief enter¬ 
tained in the healing virtues of sea-weed by inhabitants of 
the coast in different parts of the globe. Professor Laycock, 
