66 Kjeldahl determinations should nearly coincide, whereas, if such a body as creatin, &c., is present, the one method would yield twice as much nitrogen as the other. In the present communication only the extractives present in what has been called above the absolute extract" will be considered, and the results obtained in four experiments are given below. In two cases, No. 19 and No. 21, the removal of two-thirds of the kidney weight had produced simple hydruria, and in the other two cases, No. 23 and No. 28, a more extensive operation had produced polyuria as well. In 23, the polyuria was absolute, in 28 relative, the ingesta being diminished in the latter but not in the former. It is to be distinctly understood that in the following results the extractive is reckoned on urea, because of its solubility in cold alsolute alcohol, and because the amount of nitrogen obtained by the Dupré and Kjeldahl methods respectively practically coincided. No. 23 was passing an average of 21 grams of urea per diem at the time of death, and No. 28 an average of 8 grams, although in the latter case 106 grams of urea were excreted in the last twenty-four hours of life. From these results we see that in the case of dogs suffering from the simple hydruria, the amount of “ urea in the blood and tissues is only slightly above the normal. In the case of the dogs in the second stage, suffering from polyuria, &c., the amount of " urea in the blood and tissues is enormously increased. Thus, in No. 23 at least twenty times the normal quantity of urea blood, at a time when the animal was still greatly exceeding the normal (vide Table II). extractive matter present in the tissues is not retention, but on increased production. was present in the excreting an amount Hence the excess of dependent on simple I trust to consider the extractives soluble in rectified alcohol in a future communication, but they also are largely increased in the tissues, but not in the blood. The specific gravity of the blood serum is lower than normal, sinking frequently to 1025. The total solids, the proteids, and the ash of the serum are all diminished in amount, the last falling to 0.5 per cent. in many cases. The disturbance of nutrition with increased production of urea described above does not follow destruction of the renal plexus, nor does it follow free incision of the kidney with subsequent suturing of the damaged organ. It is a phenomenon closely connected with the removal of large quantities of kidney, i.e., half of one kidney and the whole of the second. Inasmuch as the phenomena do not ensue after the first and more severe operation, but only after the second and comparatively trivial operation, it must be concluded that they are more related to the quantity of kidney removed than to the shock of the operation, or to any reflex disturbance produced by the operation. The excess of urea in the muscle over that in the liver and brain might be considered as evidence of its production in the muscles. That this is not necessarily the case is shown by the results of the injection of large quantities of urea into the circulation of normal dogs. The dogs were anesthetised with chloroform, the ureters ligatured, and the urea then injected into the external jugular. After from one to three hours the animals were killed by bleeding, an the tissues examined, as described above. From these and other observations, we see that the percentage of urea in the muscles is greater than in the case of the liver and brain after intravenous injection, and that it may exceed that of the blood. The smaller percentage in the liver is not dependent upon the excretion of urea through the bile duct, because after ligature of the bile duct the percentage in the liver is still lower than that of the muscles after the intravenous injection of urea. After ligature of both ureters, and after double nephrectomy, the same distribution of urea is found in the tissues. In all the following cases the animals were killed three days after the operation. The large quantity of urea present in the muscles under all these different circumstances cannot as yet be regarded as evidence of its direct production in the muscles. Finally, in the tissues of patients dying from uræmia consequent on cirrhosis of the kidney, very large quantities of urea have been found by me, and here also the percentage in the muscles has been much higher than in the liver. This conclusion is based on the examination of the tissues in fourteen cases. Presents, March 3, 1892. Transactions. Baltimore:-Johns Hopkins University. Circular. Vol. XI. No. The Museum. London-Anthropological Institute. Journal. Vol. XXI. No. 3. 8vo. London 1892. Royal United Service Institution. No. 168. 8vo. London 1892. Journal. Moscow:-Société Impériale des Naturalistes. Nos. 2-3. 8vo. Moscou 1892. Vienna:-K. Akademie der Wissenschaften. 1892. No. 5. 8vo. Wien. The Society. Anzeiger. Jahrg. K.K. Geologische Reichsanstalt. Verhandlungen. Jahrg. 1891. Wien. The Institute. Journals. Astronomische Nachrichten. Bd. CXXVIII. 4to. Kiel 1891. The Observatory, Kiel. Fortschritte der Physik im Jahre 1885. 8vo. Berlin 1891. Physikalische Gesellschaft, Berlin Journals (continued). Horological Journal. Vol. XXXIV. No. 402. 8vo. London 1892. British Horological Institute. Journal of Comparative Neurology. Vol. II. Pp. 1-23. 8vo. Cincinnati 1892. Nature Notes. Vol. III., No. 26. 8vo. London 1892. The Editor. The Editor. Revue Médico-Pharmaceutique. Année 5. No. 1. 4to. Constan- Stazioni Sperimentali Agrarie Italiane. Vol. XXI. Fasc. 6. 8vo. Technology Quarterly. Vol. IV. No. 3. 8vo. Boston. Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Hunt (T. Sterry), F.R.S. Systematic Mineralogy based on a Natural The Author. Classification. 8vo. New York 1891. Kalm's Account of his Visit to England on his way to America in 1748. Translated by Joseph Lucas. 8vo. London 1892. Robinson (J.) Our Trees. 8vo. Salem 1891. The Editor. Essex Institute, Salem., Mass. Sharp (W.), F.R.S. A Drug is its own Antidote. 8vo. London 1892; A Study of Doses. 8vo. London 1890. The Author. Zaleski (St. Szcz.) Eaux et Boues Minérales de la Sibérie. I. Lac Ingol. Recherches Médico-Topographo-Chimiques. (Russ.) 8vo. Tomsk 1891. The Author. March 10, 1892. The LORD KELVIN, President, followed by the Treasurer, in the Chair. A List of the Presents received was laid on the table, and thanks ordered for them. The Bakerian Lecture was read by the President on behalf of the Author as follows: BAKERIAN LECTURE." On the Grand Currents of Atmospheric Circulation." By JAMES THOMSON, LL.D., F.R.S., Emeritus Professor of Civil Engineering and Mechanics in the University of Glasgow. Received March 10, 1892. [PLATE 1.] In this paper a historical sketch is given of the progress of observational and theoretical researches into the nature and causes of the Trade Winds and other great and persistent currents of atmospheric circulation. Mention is made of the fanciful attempts at explanation by Dr. Martin Lister and by Dr. Garden in papers submitted to the Royal Society a little more than 200 years ago, and which are to be found recorded in the Philosophical Transactions.' These papers give evidence of the scanty and crude condition of knowledge and speculation on the subject in the early years of the Royal Society; but yet they may probably have had a beneficial effect in instigating Edmund Halley, the astronomer, to communicate to the Royal Society, in 1686, a paper on the "Trade Winds and Monsoons,' bringing together a systematized collection of observational results, accompanied by theoretical considerations. That paper constituted an important step in the development of the science of the subject, even though his theory, in one of its most important parts, that which relates to the east to west motion of the trade winds, which he attributed to the diurnal revolution round the equatorial zone of the maximum of accumulation of heating effect, turns out to be fundamentally untenable. Halley's paper was followed, forty-nine years later, by one more * 'Phil. Trans.,' No. 183, p. 153. |
