REPORT ON PHYSIOLOGY. 
In presenting the first of a series of reports on the progress of physi- 
ology, it seems desirable to indicate briefly the object which will be 
had in view, as well as the plan to be followed in their preparation. 
The necessary limits of time and space will of course render it 
impossible to give a complete resume of all the work done each year 
in a science so extensively cultivated as Physiology. Nor is it neces- 
sary to do so, for the voluminous annual reports published in Germa- 
ny* are so complete as to leave nothing to be desired in this direction. 
These reports give short notices of all the physiological work publish- 
ed during the year in all the languages of Europe, and are invaluable 
for any one who desires to ascertain the present state of knowledge 
in regard to any particular point in physiology. 
Instead of attempting any such exhaustive treatment of the subject, 
a certain number of special questions will be selected to be discussed, 
somewhat critically, in the light thrown upon them by recent investi- 
gations. Each report will, therefore, be an attempt to present in a 
concise form the results arrived at in several of the most important 
departments of physiology. It is hoped that this course will be in 
accordance with the best interests of the readers of the Journal. 
By II. P. Bowditch, M.D. 
Absorption of Albuminoid Substances. 
Bruecke.—Beitriige z. Lehre v. d. Verdauung. Wiener Sitzuungsbe- 
richte, Bd. 37, 1859. Ueber d. Peptontheorien u. d. d. eiweissar- 
tigen Substanzen. Weiner Sitzungsberichte, Bd. 59, 1869. 
Diaconow.—Ueber d. Verdauung d. Eiweissstoffes in kiinstl. Magen. u. 
Pankreassaft. Med.-Chem. Untersuchungen von Hoppe Seyler. 
Heft. ii„ 1867. 
Voit und Bauer.—Ueber d. Aufsaugung im Dick und dunndarm. Zeit- 
schrift fur Biologie, Bd. 5, S. 536. 
Fick.—Ueber die Schicksalld. Peptone im Blute. Pfliiger’s Archiv, v. 40. 
Eichhorst.—Ueber die Resorption d. Albuminate im Dickdarm. Pflii- 
ger’s Archiv, iv. 571. 
Since the discovery of the power of the gastric juice to convert 
albuminoid substances into so-called peptones, a form in which they 
are much more diffusible than the albumens from which they are de- 
rived, it has been assumed by nearly all physiologists that a change 
of this sort is a necessary preliminary to absorption, and that un- 
changed coagulable albumen cannot pass the mucous membrane of the 
alimentary canal. Prof. Briicke, of Vienna, however, very early called 
attention to the length of time necessary for the conversion of albu- 
* Bericlit Qber die Fortschritte der Anatomie und Physiologie von Hcnle, Meissner und 
Grenacher in Gottingen. 
Jahresbericht Qber die Leistungen und Fortschritte in der Anatomie und Physiologie von 
Rud. Virchow und Aug. Hirsch, unter special-redaction von Dr. E. Gurlt und Dr. A. 
Hirs ch. 
1 2 
minoid substances into peptones, and expressed the opinion that food 
does not stay long enough in the stomach for the conversion of more 
than a very small portion of the albumens contained in it. Moreover, 
the presence of coagulable albumen in the small intestine may be 
demonstrated. Briicke also alludes to the existence in the pancreatic 
juice of an albuminoid substance, coagulable by heat, which plays an 
important part in emulsifying fats. It can scarcely be supposed that 
the channels which are wide enough to allow the passage of fat drops 
are impervious to albuminous molecules which 6erve to emulsify the 
fat; and if the albumen of the pancreatic juice can be absorbed, 
there is no reason why the albumen of the food should not be absorb- 
ed also. 
Diaconow calls attention to the small amount of peptones found in 
the blood and the intestines, and considers that physiologists are not 
justified in assuming them to be the only albuminoid substances which 
are in a form to be appropriated by the organism. 
That coagulable albumen cau really pass through an animal mem- 
brane is sufficiently proved by the occurrence of albuminuria after the 
injection of white of egg into the veins, the difference between albu- 
men and peptones in regard to diffusibility being one of degree only. 
The experiments of Voit and Bauer, and of Eichhorst, consisted in 
the injection of various albuminoid substances into the rectum of 
dogs, and determining the amount of nitrogen excreted in the urine 
and faeces. For this purpose the animals were, in Yoit’s experiments, 
kept for several days entirely without food, until the daily elimination 
of nitrogen had become constant. In Eichhorst’s experiments, they 
were fed on non-nitrogenous food till the same result was obtained. 
An injection of an albuminoid substance was then made, and any in- 
crease in the elimination of nitrogen was considered a proof that 
absorption through the large intestine had taken place. In order to 
exclude the hypothesis that anything like digestion could take place 
in the rectum, the fluids of the large and small intestine were care- 
fully tested in regard to their action on albuminoid substances, and 
were found to possess no digestive power whatever. The experiments 
showed that the following substances were absorbed through the mu- 
cous membrane of the large intestine : juices of meat, milk, solution 
of myosin, white of egg mixed with salt, solution of gelatine and 
Liebig’s meat extract. On the other hand, simple white of egg, solu- 
tion of syntonin and blood serum were not thus absorbed. The juice 
of meat was found to be quite as easily absorbed as peptones, which 
is an additional proof that no digestion occurs in the large intestine. 
Relying upon these experiments, Yoit expresses the opinion that 
only the albumen, which is absorbed unchanged, is used for the repair 
of organs and tissues, and that the peptones which are absorbed are 
probably rapidly decomposed. Otherwise we must suppose that the 
peptones derived from the albumens of the food are converted, after 
absorption, into the albumens of the body, a process not in accord- 
ance with the economy of force which we see usually manifested by 
Nature. 
Fick adopts the same view, and supports it by the following experi- 
ment. Albumens and peptones are injected into the jugular vein of 
rabbits whose kidneys have been extirpated, and at different intervals 
the blood is examined for urea. The injection of albumens is not fol- 3 
lowed by any important increase of urea in the blood, while the pep- 
tones cause a very marked increase, which is proportional to the time 
elapsing between the injection and the examination of the blood. 
Nutritive Enemata. 
Leube.—Ueber die Erniihrung der Kranken vom Mastdarm aus. Deut. 
Arch, fur Klin. Med. Bd. x. S. 1-54. 
Leube.—Ueber die Anwendung des Pancrcas-glyccrinextractes zur 
Erniihrung der Kranken vom Mastdarm aus. 
The experiments described above prove the possibility of nourishing 
the body by nutritive enemata even when no digestion can be sup- 
posed to take place in the rectum. The results will, of course, be 
much more certain when such a digestion does occur, and this Leube 
proposes to effect by mixing with the enemata a small amount of the 
glycerine extract of the pancreas prepared according to the method 
of von Wittich (PJliiger’s Archiv, ii. 193). The glycerine extract of 
the gastric mucous membrane would probably be quite as effective. 
Digestion of Starchy Substances. 
Meyer.—Erniihrungsversuche mit Brod am Hund und Menschen. 
Zeitschrift fiir Biologie, vii. p. 1. 
Sonsino.—On the Physiological Dyspepsia for starchy Food in Infancy. 
Practitioner, li. 155. 
Schenk.—Uber die Vertheilung des Klebers in Weizenkorne Anato- 
mische Untersuchungen, Wien, 1872. 
The relative nutritive value of bread of different sorts has been in- 
vestigated experimentally by Meyer. The experiments were made on 
a young man of strong and healthy constitution, and the bread used 
was of four different sorts. 
I. Rye bread (without bran) prepared by the IIorsford-Liebig 
process. 
II. Munich rye bread made from bolted rye meal, with the addition 
of coarse wheat flour, raised with leaven. 
III. White wheat bread raised with yeast. 
IV. North German black bread (Pumpernickel), made from coarse, 
unbolted rye meal, raised with leaven. 
Each sort of bread was used as food for four consecutive days, being, 
with the exception of a daily allowance of 50 grammes of butter and 
two litres of beer, the only food taken during that time. 
Between each series of days, thus devoted to experiment, several 
days or weeks intervened, during which the individual regulated his 
diet according to his inclinations. 
The solid constituents, the nitrogen and the mineral substances, 
were determined quantitatively for each sort of bread. A similar 
analysis of the faeces gave the means of determining what proportion 
of each of these substances was absorbed. The following table gives 
for each of the four sorts of bread the amount of these substances 
which appeared in the faeces for every 100 parts swallowed: 
Bread. 
Solid con- 
stituents. 
Nitrogen. 
Mineral 
substances. 
1. 
11-5 
32-4 
38-1 
II. 
10-1 
22-2 
30-5 
III. 
i 5-6 
19 9 
30-2 
IV. 
19-3 
42.3 
96-6 4 
It appears, then, that the bread which furnishes the greatest amount 
of nutritive materials in a condition to be absorbed is that made of fine 
wheat flour, and that which furnishes the least is that made of coarse, 
unbolted rye meal. This result is in direct contradiction to the 
prevailing views as to the nutritive value of unbolted flour. These 
views are based partly upon the fact that the feeling of hunger is 
relieved for a longer time by bran bread than by bread made of fine 
white flour. The greater and more prolonged distention of the sto- 
mach by the former in consequence of its comparative indigestibility 
is probably the explanation of this feeling. For not only must bran 
bread be swallowed in greater quantity than white bread in order to 
obtain an equal amount of nutriment, but it will also remain longer in 
the stomach because it is less easily acted upon by the digestive fluids. 
The superiority of bran bread, as a means of nourishment, was also 
apparently demonstrated by the experiments of Magendie, who found 
that a dog fed on white wheat bread died of starvation in fifty days, 
while another dog fed on black bran bread lived for a long time. In 
the absence, however, of any statement as to the absolute amount of 
bread swallowed, this experiment is of no value, for it is quite possi- 
ble that owing to the less agreeable taste of the white bread the animal 
did not swallow enough to sustain life. 
Besides establishing the nutritive inferiority of bran bread, the 
experiments of Meyer prove, also, that the large amount of mineral 
substances present in bread made by the IIorsford-Liebig process does 
not cause the absorption of any greater amount of nutriment. In this 
respect the previous experiments of Bischoff and Hofmann are con- 
firmed. * 
The observations of Schenk, on the distribution of gluten in wheat, 
threw some additional light on the question of the nutritive value of 
bran. It was observed that, when a transverse section of a kernel of 
wheat was heated with Millon’s reagent, the color characteristic of the 
presence of albuminoid substances appeared over the whole surface, 
except in the layer of granular cells, commonly known as gluten cells, 
lying immediately under the cellulose envelope. Now, since no albu- 
minoid substance is known which is not colored by Millon's reagent, 
and since gluten obtained from flour shows the characteristic color, it 
is evident that the so-called gluten cells must be really destitute of 
gluten. The same result was obtained by subjecting the sections of 
wheat to the action of a digestive fluid. Here the so-called gluten 
cells were entirely unaffected, while the starch granules in the interior 
of the kernel were set free by the solution of the albuminoid frame- 
work about them. Although the gluten cells themselves seem to 
contain no albuminoid substance as tested by Millon’s reagent, yet in 
the central portion of the kernel the albuminoid substances increase 
from within outwards so that it is still possible that the removal of 
the bran may involve the loss of some of the most nutritive portions of 
the flour. It is also probable that the gluten cells, though containing 
no albuminoid substance, yet really do contain some indigestible ni- 
trogenous material. This would explain the large amount of nitrogen 
found in bran. This view is also supported by an experiment of 
Poggiale,* who found that bran passed successively twice through 
* Comptes Rendus, 1853, t. 37. 5 
the intestines of a dog and once through that of a cock still contained 
3.5 per cent, of nitrogenous substances. 
In view of these facts, it is impossible to look upon all the nitrogen 
found in the faeces after a diet of bran bread as derived from digestible 
albuminoid substances, though, undoubtedly, much of it has this 
origin, the nutritious substances being carried through the alimentary 
too rapidly to be wholly digested and absorbed. 
Sonsino calls attention to the fact that in an infant the alimentary 
canal resembles anatomically that of a carnivorous animal, this struc- 
ture being in accordance with the character of the food on which it 
lives. Thus the mouth is adapted only for suction and not for masti- 
cation. The lips, tongue, pharynx, uvula and soft palate are well 
developed, while the jaws are small and without teeth till a later 
period than in any other mammal. The stomach is small and tubular, 
lying more parallel to the trunk than in adults, the pancreas slightly 
developed and the small intestine short. These are all indications 
that the food will stay only a short time in the alimentary canal, and 
and therefore animal rather than vegetable food should be given. The 
presence of starch being the principal characteristic of vegetable food, 
it might naturally be supposed that starch would not be well digested 
by infants. This view is confirmed by the observations of Guillot, 
who found in the autopsy of infants a jelly-like substance in the intes- 
tines, giving a starch reaction with iodine. Bidder and Schmidt 
found that the saliva of young animals, man included, has little or no 
power to change starch into sugar. Schiff confirmed their observa- 
tions and placed the first appearance of the sugar ferment of the 
saliva at the period of the first dentition. 
Sonsino’s experiments showed that an infusion of the pancreas of 
young cats, dogs and rabbits, has no sugar ferment, though in adult 
animals the action is very marked. He concludes that “in the early 
life of man, probably till the beginning of dentition, infants offer a 
true physiological dyspepsia for starchy aliments, caused by the 
inactivity of one at least—probably of all—of the humors that concur 
in the digestion of those aliments.” 
Hence rice, arrowroot, tapioca, &c. are unsuitable articles of food 
for infants unless mixed with some substance capable of acting as a 
sugar ferment. For this purpose the author suggests the UBe of the 
glycerine extract of bullock’s pancreas. 
It is interesting in this connection to notice the custom, said to 
prevail amongst the peasant women in certain parts of Southern 
Europe, of moistening the pap in their own mouths before giving it to 
their children, thus by their own saliva effecting a chemical change 
which that of their infants would be powerless to produce. 
Sonsino concludes with some remarks upon the inability of starchy 
food to furnish materials for building up the tissues of the body, 
which is, of course, a very important process in growing children. 
Subbotin.—Beitriige zur Physiologie des Fettgewebes. Zeitschrift 
fiir Biologie, vi. p. 73. 
Hofmann.—Der Uebergang von Nahrungsfett in die Zellen des Thier- 
korpers. Zeitschrift fur Biologie, vii. p. 153. 
Toldt.—Beitriige zur Histologic und Physiologie des Fettgewebes. 
Wiener Sitzungsberichte, Bd. lxii., 1870. 
Origin of Animal Fat. 6 
Radziejewski.—Experimentelle Beitrage zur Fettresorption. Virchow’s 
Archiv, Bd. 43, p. 268. 
Voit.—Ueber die Fettbildung im Thierkorper. Zeitschrift fur Biologie, 
Bd. v. p. 79. 
The question of the origin of animal fat is of great importance as 
bearing upon the practical problems of increasing by suitable diet the 
amount of adipose tissue in the body, as in the case of convalescents, 
and of diminishing the amount of the same tissue in the cases of 
obesity. 
The fact that fat may arise as a product of decomposition of albu- 
menoid substances, has been proved in many ways, but never more 
satisfactorily than by the following experiments of Hofmann on mag- 
gots. The amount of fat contained in the eggs of flies was determin- 
ed by an analysis of a given number of them. Other eggs were 
allowed to hatch and develop, the maggots being fed on defibrinated 
blood. The full-grown maggots were then analyzed, and found to 
contain about ten times as much fat as the eggs and the food together. 
The possibility that fat may arise in this way, led to the theory that 
all the fat in the cells of the body is derived from the decomposition 
of albumenoid substances in the cells themselves, the nitrogenous 
products of decomposition passing out by digestion, while the fats 
remain behind, until, by further decomposition, they assume more 
soluble forms. On this theory, the fat of the food contributes only 
indirectly to the deposition of fat in the body by protecting the fat 
which arises from the albuminoid substances from farther decomposi- 
tion, and, since the blood never contains any great amount of fat, the 
fat of the food must be used up as fast as absorbed. This theory is 
hold by Subbotin, who supports it by the following experiments. 
I. A dog received daily for a month a certain amount of spermaceti 
with his food, and an examination of the faeces showed that during the 
month he must have absorbed at least 100 grammes of that substance. 
An examination of the tissues showed only a very small amount of 
spermaceti in the omentum and mesentery, and none at all in the sub- 
cutaneous adipose tissue. Subbotin concludes, therefore, that the fat 
of the body is derived only in a very slight degree from the fat of the 
food. 
II. Emaciated dogs were fattened on food from which one of 
the normal constituents of animal fat, viz. stearine, had been extract- 
ed. The fat in the body, however, contained a normal amount of 
stearine. This, Subbotin concludes, must have been formed by the 
decomposition of albuminoid substances. 
Similar views are held by Toldt. 
According to theory of Radziejewski, fats arise synthetically in the 
cells, from the soaps formed in the intestine by means of the pancrea- 
tic juice and the bile salts acting on the fat of the food. His experi- 
ments, however, scarcely sustain his conclusions, and need not there- 
fore be mentioned. 
Hofmann denies the force of Subbotin’s experiments with sperma- 
ceti, because this is a fat abnormal to the body of the animal experi- 
mented on, and offers the following experiment to prove that the nor- 
mal fats of the food may be absorbed as such from the intestines and 
deposited directly in the tissues. 
A dog was kept without food till a sudden increase in the daily ex- 7 
cretion of urea was observed. This, according to the researches of 
Voit, is an indictftion that all the fat of the body has been used up. 
The animal was then fed for five days with large quantities of fat and 
a small amount of fresh meat. An analysis of the feeces during these 
five days showed how much of these substances had been absorbed. 
At the end of the five days the dog was killed, and the total amount 
of fat contained in the body determined. This fat must have been 
derived from the decomposition of the albuminoid substances or di- 
rectly from the fat of the food. The amount of fat which could have 
arisen from the decomposition of albuminoid materials was calculated 
on the assumption of Iienneberg that 100 grains of dry albumen give 
rise to 51 4 grains of fat. The following table gives the result of the 
experiment. 
In five days. 
Grammes. 
Fat absorbed as food 
“ arising from albumen - 
“ supplied to the body .... 
“ found in the body .... 
“ decomposed ...... 
It will be seen that the amount of fat found in the body was ten 
times as great as could be accounted for, even on the supposition that 
all the albumens of the food had been changed into fat, proving that 
the fat of the food must have been deposited directly in the tissues, 
notwithstanding the difficulty of supposing fat drops to pass through 
moist animal membranes. 
Voit has shown, in experiments made first in 1862, that a dog fed 
entirely on lean meat excretes in urea all the nitrogen of the meat, 
but that a portion of the carbon remains behind in the body. This 
can best be accounted for on the supposition that fat is formed by the 
decomposition of albumen, and is stored up as such in the body. 
In the present state of the question, the most reasonable con- 
clusion seems to be that the fat of the animal body may be, and pro- 
bably is, formed both from the albuminoid and fatty substances in the 
food. Whether starchy and saccharine substances can give rise to 
fats is still an open question. 
Flint.—New York Medical Journal, January, 1869. Physiology of 
Man, vol. iii. p. 315. 
Dalton.—Memoirs of N. Y. Academy of Medicine, June 15, 1871. 
Treatise on Human Physiology, 5th edition, p. 156. 
Lusk.—On the Origin of Diabetes. N. Y. Medical Journal, July, 
1870. 
Bruecke.—Ueber eine neue Methode Dextrin und Glycogen aus thieris- 
chen Fliissigkeiten und Geweben abzuscheiden. Wiener Sitzungs- 
berichte, Bd. 63, Abth. ii. 
Dock.—Ueber die Glycogenbildung in der Leber und ihre Bezichungen 
zum Diabetes. Pfliiger’s Archiv, v. 571. 
Weiss.—Zur Statik der Glycogens im Thierkorper. Wiener Sitzungs- 
berichte, July, 1871, Abth. i. 
Bock and Hoffmann.—Ueber eine neue- Enstehungsweise von Melli- 
turie. lleichert and DuBois licymond’s Archiv, 1871, p. 550. 
Glycogenic Function of the Liver. 8 
Tiegel.—TJeber eine Fermentwirkung des Blutes. Pfltiger’s Archiv, 
vi. 249. • 
Bernard.—La Glycogenese chez les invertebres. Revue Scientifique, 
ii. 401. 
Ever since the discovery by Bernard in 1848 that the liver of recently 
killed animals contains a considerable quantity of sugar, the question 
of the origin and destiny of this sugar has been a most interesting one 
for physiologists of all nations. It soon became evident that the for- 
mation of sugar in the liver goes on very rapidly after the separation 
of the organ from the body, and some observers, with Pavy at their 
head, have gone so far as to declare the formation of sugar to be in all 
cases a post-mortem phenomenon. This view of the case is hardly con- 
sistent with the often-repeated observation on living animals that the 
blood of the hepatic vein contains sugar, while that of the portal vein 
is nearly or quite destitute of it. The question has of late years been 
investigated quite extensively in this country. 
Flint confirms the observation of Pavy that the fresh liver contains 
no sugar, but in view of the presence of sugar in the hepatic and its 
absence in the portal vein, he concludes that sugar is formed in the 
liver and continually washed out of it by the circulating blood. 
Lusk, also, finding in the blood of the right heart from two to four 
times as much sugar as in that of the jugular vein, concludes that 
sugar is normally formed in the liver, though its presence cannot be 
demonstrated in the tissues of the organ itself. 
Dalton, on the other hand, analyzing large amounts of fresh hepatic 
tissue, finds that the liver contains, at least, 0.25 per cent of sugar. 
Assuming the theory of Flint to be correct, viz., that the sugar is 
washed out of the liver as fast as it is formed, it is difficult to conceive 
how sugar can fail to be found when any considerable portion of fresh 
liver is subjected to analysis, for the small branches of the hepatic 
vein must always be filled with blood containing sugar. The failure 
to find sugar in the fresh liver is probably to be accounted for by a 
want of delicacy in the reagents or by the use of too small a portion 
of liver for analysis. 
It is acknowledged by all observers that the liver contains, as one 
of its normal constituents, an anhydrous substance known as glyco- 
gen, from which the sugar of the liver is formed. The experiments 
of Dock, under the direction of Hermann, of Zurich, had for their ob- 
ject to settle the much-disputed question of the origin of glycogen. 
The animals used were rabbits, and the glycogen determinations were 
made by means of the method proposed by Briicke. The results 
showed that starvation for several days causes a disappearance of 
glycogen from the liver. It can, however, be restored by an injection 
of sugar into the stomach, but not by the injection of water or albu- 
men. Experiments with fats were not made, as all observers are 
agreed that the ingestion of these substances does not affect the 
amount of glycogen contained in the liver. It would seem, then, that 
the glycogen of the liver is derived exclusively from the carbo-hydrates 
of the food, a result in accordance with the views of Pavy, but in op- 
position to those of Bernard, who has recently shown that in the larvae 
of certain insects a formation of glycogen takes place when the food 
consists entirely of meat. 
In considering the jrfathologj of diabetes from this point of view, 9 
two hypotheses may be made. Either there is an increased metamor- 
phosis of glycogen into sugar, or the sugar of the food passes directly 
into the urine, without going to form glycogen. To decide which, if 
either, of these two hypotheses is the correct one, observations were 
made on the influence of artificially produced diabetes on the forma- 
tion of glycogen in the liver. In one series of experiments, two 
rabbits were starved several days to free the liver from glycogen. On 
one of them, the floor of the fourth ventricle was punctured, to pro- 
duce diabetes, and both received an injection of sugar into the sto- 
mach. The livers of the two animals were then examined for glyco- 
gen. In the liver of the one which had received the “ sugar punc- 
ture, ” glycogen was in most cases absent, though present in large 
amount in that of the one which had not been so treated. It was also 
found that, after starvation of several days, the sugar puncture pro- 
duces little or no diabetes, and the question then arises: what be- 
comes of the sugar injected into the stomach, since it appears neither 
in the urine nor the liver ? 
In another series of experiments, rabbits were starved for several 
days as before, then poisoned with curare and kept alive by artificial 
respiration, while the necessary injections of sugar were made into 
the stomach. The results showed that poisoning by curare prevents 
the appearance of glycogen in the liver after the injection of sugar 
into the stomach, and, moreover, causes the appearance of sugar in 
the urine, even when no sugar has been injected into the stomach. 
We find, then, in one series of experiments sugar absorbed from the 
stomach, appearing neither in the liver nor the urine, and in the other 
scries sugar appearing in the urine, though present neither in the 
stomach nor the liver. These results plainly indicate that there must 
be some other organ or tissue of the body besides the liver where the 
carbo-hydrates of the food can be stored up and from which they may 
again appear as sugar in the urine. Whether this process goes on in 
the muscles, as made probable by the experiments of Weiss, or in any 
other organ, it is evident that the whole question is much more com- 
plicated than it appears either from Pavy’s or from Bernard’s point of 
view. 
To explain the change of glycogen into sugar, the presence of a 
ferment in the liver or the blood has been assumed. Tiegel (in a 
series of experiments made under Kiihne’s direction) established the 
fact that starch and glycogen are more or less completely changed 
into sugar whenever, at a temperature between 30° and 40° C., red 
blood globules, suspended in a solution of these substances, are de- 
stroyed. The result is the same by whatever process the globules are 
destroyed. Whether the haemoglobine or the stroma of the globules 
is the active agent in producing this change is an open question. 
The theory that a process of this sort goes on normally in the liver 
derives support from the known solvent action of the biliary salts on 
the red blood globules, and also from the fact demonstrated by Tiegel 
that the post-mortem change of glycogen into sugar does not take 
place when the liver has been entirely deprived of blood. 
Bock and Hoffmann found that diabetes could be produced by the 
injection of a one per cent, solution of common salt into the blood of 
animals. The experiments lasted from five to ten hours, and the in- 
jections were made at the rate of about 30 cubic centimetres every 10 
five minutes. The first effect was to increase the amount of urine, and 
not long afterwards sugar made its appearance. After several hours, 
the urine was again excreted free from sugar, and if the animal was 
killed at this period the liver was found to be destitute of glycogen 
and sugar. If, on the other hand, the animal died while excreting 
sugar in the urine the liver was found to contain always sugar and 
sometimes glycogen. A pretty direct connection between the sugar 
of the liver and that excreted in the urine seems, therefore, to be evi- 
dent. Unfortunately, these experiments throw very little light on 
the pathology of diabetes, for the dilution of the blood plasma, the 
increased blood tension and the irritation of nervous centres by the 
injected fluid are all possible causes of the passage of sugar into the 
urine, to decide between which further experiments are necessary. 
Lymph. 
Dybkowsky.—Ueber Aufsaugung und Absonderung der Pleura-wand. 
Arbeiten aus der physiologischen Anstalt zu Leipzig, 1 Jahrgang, 
p. 40. 
Ludwig and Schweigger Seidel.—Ueber das Centrum tendineum des 
Zwerchfelles ; do. do. 1 Jahrgang, p. 114. 
Genersich.—Die Aufnahme der Lymphe durch die Schnen und Fascien 
der Skeletmuskeln; do. do. 5 Jahrgang, p. 53. 
Lesser.—Eine Metliode um grosse Lymphmengen vom lebenden Hunde 
zu gowinnen; do. do. 6 Jahrgang, p. 94. 
Hammarsten.—Ueber die Gase der Hundelymphe ; do. do. 6 Jahr- 
gang, p. 121. 
IIeller.—Ueber selbstiindige rhythmische Contractionen der Lymph- 
gefasse bei Saiigetheiren. Centralblatt fur Med. Wiss., July 31,1869. 
Vulpian.—Sur les contractions rhythmiques des vaisseaux lymphat- 
iques. Archives de Physiologie, ii. 179. 
Goltz.—Ueber den Enfluss der Nervencentren auf die Aufsaugung. 
PflUger’s Archiv, v. p. 53. 
Nasse.—Untersuchungen iiber die Einflusse, welche die Lymphbil- 
dung beherrschen. Marburg, 1871. 
The lymph spaces which have been demonstrated in nearly all the 
organs and tissues of the body seem, in certain regions, to play an 
important part in the absorption and circulation of the lymph. 
Dybkowsky discovered lymph spaces between the costal pleura and 
the intercostal muscles, and proved their connection on the one side 
with the pleural cavity through openings between the epithelial cells, 
and on the other with the lymphatic vessels. He also showed that, 
owing to the anatomical disposition of the parts, contraction of the 
intercostal muscles must dilate the lymph spaces, while relaxation of 
the same muscles allows them to contract. In the movements of 
respiration, therefore, the fluids of the pleural cavity are sucked into 
these spaces and then passed on into the lymphatic vessels. The 
valves of the latter, of course, prevent a flow in the opposite direction. 
A similar arrangement has been shown by Ludwig and Schweigger 
Seidel to exist in the tendinous centre of the diaphragm. Here the 
lymph spaces which lie between the tendinous fibres open on the one 
side into the abdominal cavity and on the other into the lymphatic 
vessels of the thorax. The rhythmical movements of the diaphragm 
in respiration, alternately contracting and dilating the lymph spaces, 11 
tend, therefore, to remove fluids from the abdominal cavity and to 
transfer them to the lymphatic system. This may be shown as fol- 
lows : A rabbit is cut in halves just below the diaphragm, and the 
anterior half suspended head downwards. The abdominal cavity is 
then filled with a colored fluid, e. g. a solution of Prussian blue. The 
lungs are then rhythmically inflated as in artificial respiration. After 
a short time the colored fluid will be found to have filled the lymph 
spaces of the diaphragm and to have entered the lymph vessels beyond. 
Genersich showed that the lymph spaces in the fascise of muscles 
may be easily injected from the side towards the muscle, while the 
lymph vessels arise on the opposite side. This suggested the proba- 
bility that fasciae might, when alternately stretched and relaxed, tend 
to remove fluids from the muscles in the same way that the tendinous 
centre of the diaphragm removes them from the abdomen. This was 
shown to be the case by experiments which consisted in conducting a 
stream of defibrinated blood through the hind-quarters of an animal, 
and collecting the lymph as it flowed from the thoracic duct. As 
long as the limbs remained in repose the lymph flowed very slowly 
from the thoracic duct, but when the muscles were caused to contract 
by electrical stimulation the flow of lymph was much increased. Pas- 
sive movements of the limbs, i. e. alternate flexion and extension of 
the legs, caused a still more decided increase. The amounts of lymph 
flowing in a given time from the thoracic duct during repose, during 
electrical stimulation and during passive movement, were found to be 
related to each other on an average as the numbers 1, 10.6 and 28'9. 
This would seem to indicate that the active contraction of the muscles 
is less important for the flow of the lymph than the passive stretching 
and relaxation of the fasciae and tendons. We may, perhaps, find in 
this function of the fasciae the rationale of those methods of treatment 
which consist in passive movements, rubbing and kneading of the 
limbs, &c. 
Lesser experimented on dogs curarized and kept alive by artificial 
respiration. He confirmed the observations af Genersich on the effect 
of passive movements in increasing the flow of lymph, and found that 
in general the lymph flowed most abundantly when the blood pressure 
was lowest. This would seem to indicate that a dilated condition of 
the bloodvessels favors the production of lymph. This is in accordance 
with the observations of Gianuzzi* on an increased secretion of saliva, 
accompanied by dilatation of the bloodvessels and greater flow of 
lymph as the result of irritation of the chorda tympani. 
This view is also sustained by the experiments of Nasse, who found 
that lowered blood pressure, produced by bleeding, caused for a time 
an increased flow of lymph, while irritation of the sympathetic nerve 
diminished the flow. He found, however, that increased blood press- 
ure caused by irritation of a sensitive nerve was accompanied by an 
increased secretion of lymph. 
Hammarsten analyzed the gases of the lymph, finding mere traces 
of oxygen, but from 28 to 40 per cent, in volume of carbonic acid. In 
an animal killed by asphyxia the blood was found richer than the 
lymph in carbonic acid, but this does not prove, as it might seem 
* Von den des beschlennigten Blatstoms for die Absouderung des Speichels. 
Beriehtc der K. S. Gesell. der Wissenchaften, Nov. 27th, 1865. 12 
to at first sight, that the greater part of the carbonic acid is not 
formed in the tissues, but in the blood, for the amount of carbonic 
acid contained in alkaline fluids depends on the amount of substances 
capable of combining with carbonic acid which are present in those 
fluids. 
Heller observed in the mesentery of guinea pigs, made insensible 
with chloroform, a rhythmical contraction of the lymphatic vessels, 
occurring about ten times in a minute, and causing a rapid propulsion 
of the lymph contained in them. These observations were repeated 
and confirmed by Vulpian. 
In the experiments of Goltz two frogs were curarized and hung up 
by the head. In one of them (A) the brain and spinal cord were de- 
stroyed, and in the other (B) they were uninjured. On cutting the 
aorta, no blood flowed from A, but about one or two c.c. from B. A 
measured quantity of a one per cent, solution of common salt was then 
placed in the dorsal lymph sac of each frog. In A the fluid remained 
unabsorbed in the lymph sac, while in B it was rapidly absorbed and 
flowed from the aorta. The rapidity of absorption was increased by 
electrical irritation of the legs and diminished by rapid blows upon 
the abdomen, which operations respectively excite and inhibit the 
vaso-motor centre. It is, however, not easy to explain the above 
phenomena on the supposition that the vaso-motor system alone is 
concerned, and Goltz is inclined to regard the whole body as a sort of 
gland whose secretion is the lymph, and whose functional activity is 
regulated by the nervous system, in the same way that the sub- 
maxillary gland secretes under the influence of the chorda tympani. 
In this connection are to be mentioned the experiments which show 
that after destruction of the spinal cord it is impossible to keep the 
bloodvessels sufficiently full to insure the regular action of the heart, 
for artificially injected blood diffuses very rapidly into the serous 
cavities and connective tissue. Is this transudation the result of the 
diminished thickness of the vascular walls caused by distention of the 
vessels deprived of their natural tonicity, or does it depend upon the 
absence of a direct nervous influence which regulates the exchange of 
fluids between the interior and exterior of the vessels ? 
Carbonic Oxide in the Blood. 
Dondf.rs.—Der Chemismus der Athmung ein Dissociations process. 
Pfluger’s Archiv, y. 20. 
Zuntz.—1st Kolenoxyd haemoglobin eine feste Verbindung? Pfluger’s 
Archiv, y. 584. 
The prevailing theory in regard to the toxic action of carbonic oxide 
is that this gas drives out the oxygen from the blood globules and 
enters into a firm combination with the hsemoglobine. 
According to this view, blood once thoroughly saturated with car- 
bonic oxide is thenceforth incapable of absorbing oxygen from the 
lungs and conveying it to the tissues. The transfusion of fresh blood 
is therefore the only means of saving life. If the blood, however, is 
not entirely saturated with the poisonous gas it is possible that the 
oxygen still present may suffice to convert the carbonic oxide into 
carbonic acid, in which form it may be eliminated. This theory rests 
upon the observations and experiments of Iloppe-Seyler, Bernard, 
Hermann and others. 13 
Donders has shown that when a stream of oxygen, hydrogen or 
carbonic acid, is carried through blood saturated with carbonic oxide, 
the latter gas is gradually driven from its combination with the 
haemoglobine. It passes out, moreover, without any previous change 
into carbonic acid. 
Zuntz subjected blood saturated with carbonic oxide to the action 
of an air-pump and succeeded in extracting the gas entirely, as was 
shown by the blood giving the single absorption band of reduced 
hasmoglobine. 
These experiments show that the combination of hasmoglobine and 
carbonic oxide is by no means so stable as was originally supposed, 
and make it extremely probable that the gas is eliminated as such by 
the lungs.