%vemberVwT\        Hygienic  Laboratory  Bulletins.  535 
HYGIENIC  LABORATORY  BULLETINS. 
In  addition  to  Hygienic-  Laboratory  Bulletin  No.  63,  commented 
on  in  this  Journal  for  October,  1910  (p.  495),  at  least  four  of  the 
recently  issued  bulletins  contain  information  that  will  be  of  interest 
and  value  to  pharmacists. 
It  should  be  remembered  that  all  applications  for  these  publica- 
tions should  be  addressed  to  the  "  Surgeon-General,  U.  S.  Public 
Health  and  Marine-Hospital  Service,  Washington,  D.  C." 
Hygienic  Laboratory  Bulletin  No.  69.  The  effects  of  a 
Restricted  Diet  and  of  Various  Diets  upon  the  Resistance  of 
Animals  to  Certain  Poisons.  By  Reid  Hunt.  Washington, 
Government  Printing  Office,  1910,  p.  89. 
This  bulletin  contains  reports  of  experiments  and  observations 
on  a  subject  that  promises  to  be  of  very  great  importance  in  the 
study  of  the  action  of  medicines.  In  the  course  of  his  experimenting 
Hunt  has  observed  some  very  striking  alterations  in  the  resistance 
of  animals  to  certain  poisons  produced  entirely  by  changes  in  diet. 
Thus  of  animals  kept  upon  diets  such  as  are  in  daily  use  by  man 
some  were  able  to  resist  many  (up  to  40)  times  the  amount  of 
certain  poisons  fatal  to  animals  kept  upon  other  diets.  He  points  out 
that,  although  the  results  with  certain  of  these  poisons  probably  have 
no  relation  to  man,  yet  they  show  that  man  is  doubtless  daily  pro- 
ducing profound  effects  upon  his  resisting  power  to  poisons  and 
diseases,  a  knowledge  of  some  of  which  may  be  of  much  practical 
importance.  It  seems  certain  that  by  the  use  of  some  of  these 
reactions  changes  in  metabolism,  which  are  not  recognized  by  the 
methods  ordinarily  employed,  may  be  detected. 
As  noted  above,  the  experimental  data  recorded  in  this  bulletin 
will  no  doubt  be  of  value  in  stimulating  investigation  on  the  relation 
of  diet  to  the  physiologic  and  therapeutic  action  of  remedial  sub- 
stances as  well  as  the  more  direct  toxic  action  of  potent  medicaments. 
Hygienic  Laboratory  Bulletin  No.  67.  The  Solubilities  of  the 
Pharmacopceial  Organic  Acids  and  Their  Salts.  By  Atherton 
Seidell.    Washington,  Government  Printing  Office,  1910,  p.  93. 
This  bulletin  contains  records  of  experimental  work  done  to 
determine  the  solubility  in  water  and  aqueous  alcohol  solutions  of 
some  40  or  more  official  substances. 
