local treatment will often be found necessary. In the matter of dosage he adhered to Nicolaier's advice, and gave 7 gr. 3 times a day. In 1 instance he was obliged to give only 2 doses a day, as 3 produced burnin the bladder. Complete cure was observed after using 4 to 6 drams of the remedy. ing Heubner also speaks favorably of urotropin in the cystitis of children when the disease is associated with ammoniacal urine. Holmes 2 reports a case of cystitis, the result of prostatic hypertrophy, in which tying the vas deferens, and washing the bladder with boric-acid solution failed to give relief, but in which the administration of 7 gr. of this remedy twice daily reduced the urgency of urination, cleared the urine of pus, and enabled the patient to remain in bed at night, rising only once to micturate. Veratrum Viride and Veratrum Album.-H. C. Wood and H. C. Wood, Jr.,3 conclude, from an experimental study of these drugs, that Veratrum album more frequently purges man when taken in toxic doses than does Veratrum viride, and that some specimens of Veratrum album are stronger than are some specimens of Veratrum viride. On the other hand, the authors believe that different specimens of Veratrum viride may vary greatly in their strength, and that some specimens of Veratrum viride may be stronger than some specimens of Veratrum album. They argue that while it is not probable that a clinician would be able to perceive any difference in the action of the therapeutic dose of the 2 plants, and that while it would be proper for the pharmacopeia to recognize both species, yet it would be better for the National Pharmacopeia to favor the American plant-Veratrum album. Xeroform.-This substance is the tribromocarbolate of bismuth, and has been put forth as another substitute for iodoform. It is insoluble, inodorous, and tasteless, and is said to be free from irritating properties. Paschkis finds it very useful as a dusting-powder in various skin-diseases with areas of excoriation, especially in eczema. Ehrmann has found xeroform efficacious not only in the various forms of eczema, but in suppurative and gangrenous processes generally, such as venereal ulcers, leg-ulcers, buboes, and suppurating wounds. [The general trend of recent opinion is markedly in favor of this drug, which approaches very nearly to a perfect substitute for iodoform, but without its disadvantages.] 6 Yeast. Turner states that Brocq has tried yeast in the treatment of furunculosis, and has found it most efficacious. This treatment has already been favorably spoken of by Follin, Gingeot, and Debouzy. Brocq began trying it in 1894, and has used it on about 50 patients suffering from diverse complaints, such as carbuncles, boils, and infectious or inflammatory diseases of the skin. Brocq recommends fresh beeryeast, bakers' yeast not being so efficacious. The full dose is on the average 3 teaspoonfuls daily; but it may be increased to 9 or 10 in some instances. The yeast should be quite fresh. The writer admits that the remedy occasionally excites indigestion and even diarrhea, but claims that 1 Therap. d. Gegenw., Heft 2, S. 63, 1898. 2 Dominion Med. Monthly, No. 5, 1898. 3 Am. Jour. Med. Sci., May, 1899. * Wien. klin. Rundschau, vol. xi., p. 693, 1898. Wien. med. Blätt., Heft 22, S. 343, 1898. Therap. Gaz., Mar. 15, 1899. these symptoms are not tenacious, and that by using the medicament discreetly no untoward results need be feared. Baron advocates the use of yeast, in teaspoonful doses, 3 times a day, in conjunction with fruit-juices, in the treatment of infantile scurvy. Landau recommends injections of brewers' yeast in vaginal gonorrhea, basing the treatment on the fact that yeast-organisms have greater vitality and propagate faster than gonococci, and are thus able to crowd out the latter. 1 Münch. med. Woch., Band 45, S. 565 and 598, 1898. 2 Lancet, No. 3045, 1899. PHYSIOLOGY. BY G. N. STEWART, M. D., OF CLEVELAND, OHIO, Epitome.-Among the investigations of most general interest published since our last report are the work of Mathews on the origin of fibrinogen; of Thompson and Chittenden and his co-workers on the influence of proteid derivatives on coagulation; of Asher on lymph-formation; of Cleghorn, Hedbom, and others on the action of substances on the isolated mammalian heart; of Howell and his pupils on the automaticity of the heart; of Hunt on the cardiac nerves; of Huber on the vasomotors of the brain; of Langley, Bunch and Bayliss and Starling on the innervation of the intestine; of Cushny and Wallace and Höber on absorption; of Pflüger, Athanasiu, Cavazzani, and others on certain of the relations of the glycogen of the liver; of Cremer, and Lusk and his pupils on phloridzin-diabetes; of Magnus-Levy on diabetic coma; of Abel on the active constituent of the suprarenal capsules; of Schäfer and Vincent on the internal secretion of the pituitary body; of Loewy and Richter on the internal secretion of the ovary; of Oppenheim and Schäfer on the decussation of the sensory path; of Goltz on the phenomena following removal of extensive portions of the cerebral cortex; of Hardy on the structure of cell-protoplasm; and of Loeb on fertilization. BLOOD, LYMPH, AND CIRCULATION. Origin of Fibrinogen.-A. Mathews' brings forward weighty evidence in favor of the view that the leukocytes are the source of the fibrinogen of the blood, and speculates in an interesting manner [though here we follow him less readily] on the possibility that all the proteids of the blood are derived from broken-down leukocytes, the organism "living on its leukocytes as the egg-cells of some forms live on their follicle-cells." Origin of Leukocytes.-J. Beard [following Kölliker] asserts, and supports his assertion by ingenious arguments, that the thymus gland is the parent-source of all the leukocytes in the body; and that wherever lymphoid tissue is found elsewhere, the leukocytes in it are the descendants of leukocytes which originally emigrated from the thymus, and setting up for themselves, so to speak, founded colonies in regions remote from their native seat. Influence of "Peptone" on Coagulation.-W. H. Thompson, and Chittenden, Mendel, and Henderson have elaborately investi2 Lancet, Jan. 21, 1899. 1 Am. Jour. Physiol., vol. iii., p. 53, 1899. 3 Jour. of Physiol., vol. xxiv., p. 374, 1899; vol. xxv., p. 1. Am. Jour. Physiol., vol. ii., p. 142, 1899. pep gated the influence of certain derivatives of proteids belonging to the tone and proteose groups on the coagulation of the blood and on the vasomotor mechanism. While the results of these researches do not agree on all points, they clearly establish the existence of certain differences in the action of the various substances. Antipeptone, for instance, has invariably an accelerating influence on coagulation, and practically no effect on the blood-pressure; while all the albumoses investigated lower the blood-pressure and usually retard coagulation. The albumoses occasionally hasten coagulation [the result apparently depending less on the dose employed than on what, in our ignorance, we call the idiosyncrasy of the animal. The statements in regard to hemipeptone are conflicting, and obviously require to be tested by further experiments]. Osmotic Relations of the Blood.-H. Koeppe1 criticises Hamburger's method of determining the relative volume of the intracellular liquid and the stroma of the red corpuscles, and ultimately rejects it. [While we think that several of Koeppe's criticisms are just, he has himself fallen into error in saying that "we can assume with certainty that in the blood-corpuscles all the salts are present in the form of neutral molecules and none dissociated, since Bugarsky and Tangl have shown that the corpuscles do not conduct the electrical current." It is quite true that the red corpuscles have a very low conductivity; but this is not because there are no dissociated molecules in them, but because the ions are hindered from passing through the envelope.] That the relations of the envelope and stroma to the contents of the corpuscles are very peculiar has been shown by the observations of G. N. Stewart 3 on the changes produced in the electrical conductivity and molecular concentration of the blood when it is laked in various ways. He shows that under certain conditions the large molecules of hemoglobin may pass out of the corpuscles, while the small molecules of the electrolytes (the salts) remain within them. Working with a method based on the low electrical conductivity of the corpuscles, he found that the plasma in dog's blood (in 30 animals) varied from 40% to 74% by volume of the blood. 5 Lymph.-L. Asher has continued the important work begun by him in conjunction with A. G. Barbéra. He states that the intravenous injection of bile [which, as is well known, increases the activity of the liver and the production of bile] causes an increased outflow of concentrated lymph from the thoracic duct. In this fact he sees a new support to his theory that the lymphgogues owe their influence on the lymphstream to their stimulating the hepatic cells to greater activity. On the other hand, cholin, which does not increase the secretion of the liver, but does stimulate other glands, causes an increase in the flow both of thoracic and cervical lymph, but no increase in its concentration. The intravenous injection of small quantities of crystalloids is rapidly followed by a marked increase in the solids of the lymph, a fact which [as Asher justly remarks] it is difficult to reconcile with a purely mechanical theory of lymph-production. It indicates rather that metabolic processes are in play. It is also in accordance with this conclusion that, as R. Magnus7 1 Arch. f. Physiol., S. 504, 1899. 3 Journ. of Physiol., vol. xxiv., p. 211, 1899. 5 Zeit. f. Biol., Band 37, S. 261, 1898. 2 Ibid., S. 317, 1898. 6 YEAR-BOOK for 1899, p. 952. 7 Arch. f. exper. Path. u. Pharmakol., Band 42, S. 250, 1899. has pointed out, hydremic plethora produced by intravascular injection of physiologic salt solution does not cause general edema of the skin in normal living animals, but does so in dead animals or in animals poisoned by arsenic, chloroform, or other drugs. W. Roth,' too, in restating and extending the conclusions of Koranyi, has given indorsement to the view that the metabolic work of the tissues is an important factor in the production of lymph, by clearly pointing out that the decomposition of proteid substances in the cells must affect the osmotic pressure there, and, therefore, the exchange of fluid between them and the tissue-liquids and between the tissue-liquids and the blood. Absorption from the Peritoneal Cavity.-The question whether absorption of substances introduced into the peritoneal cavity takes place by the blood vessels or by the lymphatics has been much debated. Mendal has reinvestigated the subject, and decides in favor of the view that the blood vessels are the main channel of absorption [and this seems to be in accordance with the bulk of the evidence]. 2 3 Heart. [The methods of maintaining an artificial circulation through the isolated mammalian heart, inaugurated by Newell Martin and developed by Langendorff and Porter, must now be regarded as a portion of our ordinary physiologic technic, and they are being applied to all sorts of questions connected with the physiology and pharmacology of the heart.] Among the numerous researches of this nature published during the past year we may mention W. T. Porter's demonstration that the synchronism in the beat of the ventricles of the mammalian heart is not dependent on the auricles, but on the ventricles themselves, and is maintained not through nervous, but through muscular, connections. Von Vintschgau has also shown that in the frog's heart it is possible, by crushing a narrow longitudinal band of the tissue of the ventricle, to reduce a portion of the ventricle to rest, notwithstanding that its connection with the auricles is still intact, while the rest of the ventricle goes on beating. Action of Substances on the Heart.-The action of extracts of various organs (suprarenal capsule, hypophysis cerebri, testis, liver, thyroid, etc.), and of certain bacterial cultures and the filtrates from such cultures, on the isolated heart of warm-blooded animals has been studied by A. Cleghorn. Suprarenal extract was by far the most powerful of all the animal extracts investigated. It always caused a marked augmentation of the contractions of the ganglion-free apex of the dog's heart. Extract of thyroid in small doses increased the force of the beat, while large doses had the opposite effect. Pathogenic bacteria and their toxins had an unexpectedly slight effect. Even large doses of very powerful diphtheria-toxins hardly altered the force of the beat, although the rate was diminished. F. Rolly, however, saw complete paralysis of the rabbit's heart produced by perfusion with blood containing diphtheriatoxin. [The explanation of the discrepancy is perhaps to be found partly in a greater sensitiveness of the rabbit's heart to the poison, and partly in the fact that, as Rolly points out, the toxin requires a considerable time to develop its paralyzing effect even when injected directly into the 1 Arch. f. Physiol., p. 416, 1899. 2 Am. Jour. Physiol., vol. ii., p. 342, 1899. 3 Ibid., p. 127. Pflüger's Archiv, Band 76, S. 59. 4 5 Am. Jour. Physiol., vol. ii., p. 273, 1899. |