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FOR THE PEOPLE FOR EDVCATION FOR SCIENCE LIBRARY OF THE AMERICAN MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY

PROCEEDINGS

- oO a 2

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OF THE

SOCIETY FOR

EXPERIMENTAL BIOLOGY AND MEDICINE

VOLUME XII

IQI4-I1915

EDITED BY THE SECRETARY

NEW YORK

1915

pra ee! 28 een. |

PRESS OF THE NEW ERA PRINTING COMPANY » LANCASTER, PA,

CONTENTS.

SCIENTIFIC PROCEEDINGS (61st-68th meetings):

PAGE Communications of the sixty-first meeting, October 21, 1914. ; : I Communications of the sixty-second meeting, November 18, 1914. _ a SY Communications of the sixty-third meeting, December 16, 1914. . 5 Ge Communications of the sixty-fourth meeting, January 20, 1915 . : = fis Communications of the sixty-fifth meeting, February 17, 1915 . ; 5 OF Communications of the sixty-sixth meeting, March 17, 1915 . : Ll 7, Communications of the sixty-seventh meeting, April 21, 1915 , s . I41 Communications of the sixty-eighth meeting, May 19, I9I5 . : : 5 2970) Recapitulation of the names of the authors and of the titles of the com- munications . : : 3 : . fs 5 8 - c : 3 E20 EXECUTIVE PROCEEDINGS (6Ist-68th meetings) : J 3 je . 2 5 2ei3 CONSTITUTION AND By-Laws . 6 c 3 é é ; F +. 236 REGISTER OF NAMES AND ADDRESSES OF THE MEMBERS . é ; é : 5 eb List OF OFFICERS . ; : 5 6 : 0 : 3 5 : : * . 248 CLASSIFIED LIST OF MEMBERS. a 5 é : 5 5 A ; : . 249

INDEX OF THE SCIENTIFIC PROCEEDINGS . 5 5 5 5 5 % A 252

EVM ASTRAY TANGENT jit

vi

SCIENTIFIC PROCEEDINGS:

ABSTRACTS OF COMMUNICATIONS. Sixty-first meeting. Cornell University Medical College, October 21, 1914.

President Lusk in the chair.

I (933)

The effect of potassium iodide, methylene blue and other sub- stances applied to the embryo sacs of seed-plants.

By D. T. MacDouGALt.

[From the Desert Laboratory, Tucson, Arizona.]

The results of some experiments at the New York Botanical Garden in 1905 showed that it was possible to introduce foreign substances into the ovaries of the higher plants, in such manner that the egg, or pollen-nuclei, were affected as to their genetic capacity.

Similar results were achieved independently four years later by Major Firth, of the British Royal Army Medical Corps, Dr. Firth being unaware of the previous discoveries.

The removal of my work to the Desert Laboratory in 1906 made it necessary to find new experimental material. Species suitable for the study of the modification of the germ-plasm by external agencies should be genetically simple, and preferably perennial, so that successive generations may be kept alive for comparison, and it is a great advantage if the plant can be brought to maturity in a single season.

Many-seeded ovaries, with the ovules standing in an open chamber, offer the best mechanical features, and naturally, only those which will recover from the traumatic effects of the neces-

sary operations are of value to the experimenter. The above I

2 SCIENTIFIC PROCEEDINGS (61).

conclusions are based upon a long series of failures of ovaries to mature upon cultures of treated species showing no departures, and upon progenies including notable departures, the parental forms of which proved to be a complex of elementary forms. Satisfactory conditions were finally obtained with a Scrophularia, native to the mountain tops of Arizona. Ovaries treated in I9II with a solution of one part potassium iodide to 40,000 of distilled water, and the seedlings grown in 1912, included two individuals unlike the parental strain. These and their progeny are unlike their progenitors in the color-pattern of the flowers, the water- relations of the stems, the degree of differentiation of the tissues, the shape of the wings of the stems, the form and size of the flowers, the growth-correlations and venation of the leaves. The continuance of these features in the successive generations indi- cates a permanent modification of the germ-plasm.

Studies of the behavior of methylene blue, and other dyes, in the ovaries, show that, in some plants, introduced solutions may be taken up by the placenta and conducted through the funicular stalk to the antipodal region of the embryo-sac, finally staining the egg-cell.

In other cases, the cells of the micropylar opening are stained, and the pollen tube in passing through this might be affected, and might also take up free foreign solutions in the open cavity. It is evident, therefore, that in the introduction of substances into such an ovary, the effect would depend upon the simpler mechanical features of the operation, the stage of development of the separate ovules, the progress of the advancing pollen-tubes, and the varying dilution of the reagent in its diffusion through many membranes. The individuals resulting from a treatment, affecting one element only, would be of a hybrid nature: and might be if both were affected to an unlike degree, or in an unlike manner.

Duplication of effects is therefore not to be demanded as a test of such results and, if strict repetitions were obtained, the implication that premutations were present would be strong. The range of the departures is limited in expression by the morpho- logical possibilities, but instead of being premutatory, may be considered to be the result of the direct action of the reagent

STUDIES ON SO-CALLED PROTECTIVE FERMENTS. 3

upon the colloidal complex of living matter. The compound used in obtaining the results described would have a neutralizing or coagulatory effect on protoplasm. Other reagents, facilitating hydratation, have been used on ovaries from which seeds have been obtained, the capacities of which are yet to be tested.

2 (934)

Studies on so-called protective ferments. II. Proteolytic enzyme is not specific.

By J. BRONFENBRENNER.

[From the Pathological and Research Laboratories of the Western Pennsylvania Hospital, Pittsburgh, Pa.|

If the serum of a pregnant woman is placed in a dialyzing thimble together with placenta in all respects as for an Abder- halden test, only at a temperature of C., dialysis does not take place. Both the serum and placenta however undergo certain changes. Such a serum, when separated from the placenta and placed in the dialyzing thimble with fresh placenta, can no more induce any specific changes in placenta. And the placenta once placed in contact with a positive serum on ice and then separated from it, although it is not able to give up dialyzable substances by itself (if suspended in salt solution), acquires the property to do so in presence of any positive or negative, male or female fresh serum. The placenta was evidently “sensitized” and the serum exhausted of the specific substances present in pregnant serum. Moreover such a serum deprived of its specific properties still retains the ability of causing the appearance of dialyzable sub- stances in presence of the sensitized placenta. Evidently we have here complete parallelism between this phenomenon and that of sensitization of erythrocytes by an active hemolytic serum.

In studying the complement activity of a pregnant individual’s serum exhausted of its specific elements by the above method, it was found that the complement tends to deteriorate very rapidly, much more rapidly than in the male serum treated in an exactly

4 SCIENTIFIC PROCEEDINGS (61).

similar way. Parallel with the deterioration of the complement and in the inverse proportion, the amount of the dialyzable protein fraction increases. The analysis of this phenomenon which will be described in detail elsewhere, led to the conclusion that the serum of a pregnant woman, treated in the way described above, acquires the ability of digesting itself. Moreover any normal serum placed in contact with ‘‘sensitized”’ placenta acquires the same property, so that the Abderhalden reaction would seem to be composed of two phases: the one—specific—the sensitization of placenta; the other—non-specific—the autodigestion of the serum as a result of the presence of sensitized placenta. Thus the assumption of specific proteolytic ferments of Abderhalden becomes unnecessary.

3 (935)

Studies on so-called protective ferments. III. The Abderhalden reaction is not an adsorption phenomenon.

By J. BRONFENBRENNER.

[From the Pathological and Research Laboratories of the Western Pennsylvania Hospital, Pittsburgh, Pa.|

In the current literature attention has been directed by Plaut,} Kjergaard,? Herzfeld,’ Peiper,t Flatow® and others to the fact that kaolin or starch as well as placenta protein if mixed in suitable proportions with any fresh serum is able to produce the appear- ance of dialyzable substances in the serum. There is no doubt that these experiments show that by the simple adsorption of inorganic substances as well as placenta, serum may be so changed as to give off dialyzable substances. The conclusion however of these authors that therefore the Abderhalden reaction is not specific was premature. For we know that for instance in im- munity work, complement may be fixed or inactivated by many inorganic and almost any organic substances (this is why in

1Plaut, Miinch. med. Woch., 1914, No. 5, p. 238.

2 Kjergaard, Zeit. f. Imfz. Orig., XXII, No. I, p. 31.

3 Herzfeld, Bioch. Zeitshr., 1914, I.

4 Peiper, D. Med. Woch., 1914, No. 29, p. 1467. 5 Flatow, Miinch. med. Woch., 1914, No. 21, p. 1168.

STUDIES ON SO-CALLED PROTECTIVE FERMENTS. 5

preparing reagents for the final test it is essential to titrate them or to find a suitable dose which will not fix the complement by mere adsorption); but we do not doubt the specificity of the complement fixation in the Wassermann reaction for instance. Here the parallelism between the complement deviation test and the Abderhalden reaction is very striking and I shall in later publications endeavor to give the proof that this parallelism is not merely on the surface but fundamental. In my experience positive Abderhalden test is obtained invariably with sera of pregnant individuals, whereas non-pregnant women gave as a rule negative results, provided the amount of placenta used for the test was not excessive. Moreover the fact that the appearance of dialyzable substances can be invariably brought about in male serum by placenta, if the placenta was previously sensitized, led to the conclusion that it is the very union between the placenta and some part of the pregnant serum—which union is very similar to that of antigen and antibody—that brings about changes in the placenta which enable such placenta to cause the auto- digestion of any fresh serum.

As to the mechanism of such an action upon the serum, the explanation which suggests itself to me as the most probable is the following: the combination of antigen and antibody is accom- panied by a physico-chemical change of the medium (such as is for instance recorded by the Meiostagmin reaction) which in turn causes the falling out or adsorption of some elements of the serum which originally prevented the action of the proteolytic enzymes normally present in any fresh serum. The same mechanism explains the auto-digestion of the serum in the case of kaolin and starch, only here the inhibiting substances are filtered out from the serum by simple adsorption as for instance is shown by Jobling and Petersen.1

1 Jobling and Peterson, Journ. of Exp. Med., 1914, XIX, p. 4509.

6 SCIENTIFIC PROCEEDINGS (61).

4 (936)

Studies on so-called protective ferments. IV. The Abderhalden test is rendered negative by the addition of serum- antitrypsin.

By J. BRONFENBRENNER.

[From the Pathological and Research Laboratories of the Western Pennsylvania Hospital, Pittsburgh, Pa.|

The view which regards blood serum as a digestive fluid is not a new one, and the importance of the mechanism regulating the activity of the ferments of the blood while in the body has recently been clearly detailed by Dr. Victor C. Vaughan.! The study of these ferments was lately taken up by Jobling and Petersen? who showed that the non-saturated fatty acids of the serum are in a way responsible for the inactivity of the proteolytic enzymes in the blood.

The experiments have shown that—as I expected—serum extracted with chloroform gives up dialyzable substances reacting with Ninhydrin; I further ascertained that the addition of non- saturated fatty acids in form of soap or in form of large excess of normal serum reéstablished the antitryptic properties of the treated serum, thus stopping the appearance of dialyzable protein substances. I then tried to see if the same procedure would also stop the auto-digestion of the serum exposed to its own ferments through the action of kaolin or starch on the one hand, and of the antigen-antibody combination on the other. The experiments confirmed the expectations in every case completely, and I am therefore in a position to say that by the addition of the excess of whole normal serum as well as by the addition of saponi- fied fatty acids of the serum, the Abderhalden reaction is invariably rendered negative, evidently through the arresting of the self- digestion of the serum.

The study of this question is not completed as yet, but even now it is possible to say that not only fatty acids, but also the serum-albumin tends to retard auto-digestion, while the addition

1Jour. A. M. A. 1914, Vol. 63, p. 365. 2 Jour. of Exp. Med., Vol, 19, 1914, p. 239.

STUDIES ON SO-CALLED PROTECTIVE FERMENTS. 7

of serum globulin seems to promote the appearance of dialyzable substances, probably on account of the digestion of the globulin by the serum ferment.

5 (937)

Studies on so-called protective ferments. V. The serum is the source of dialyzable substances.

By J. BRONFENBRENNER.

[From the Pathological and Research Laboratories of the Western Pennsylvania Hospital, Pittsburgh, Pa.}

In the experiments related above I have shown that the serum of a pregnant individual, placed in contact with placenta at temperature and separated from the placenta by subsequent centrifugation, is capable of giving up dialyzable substances if placed in the incubator. Assuming that the cells of placenta were centrifuged down, the only explanation for the appearance of amino acids and polypeptids in such a serum was that the serum acquired the ability to digest itself. The fact that the addition of fresh placenta to such serum does not increase the degree of dialysis on the one hand, whereas on the other addition of serum globulin increases it very markedly—points toward the correctness of this assumption.

Some experiments conducted in my laboratory at present with placenta as well as with bacterial substrata will prove definitely that the substratum is not the source of dialyzable substances in the Abderhalden test. While these experiments are still in progress, I tried also to see if my assumption of the auto-digestion of serum in the Abderhalden test will hold good in the case of syphilis, for if the dialyzable substances should appear in this case, there will be no doubt as to their source, as the substratum in this case is not of protein nature.

As it was to be expected, the sera of syphilitics, when brought into dialyzing thimble with suitable amount of pure lipoid, often gave positive Abderhalden test, while sera of normal individuals, treated in similar way gave most often negative results. The adjustment of the amount of lipoid to be used in this test is very

8 SCIENTIFIC PROCEEDINGS (61).

important, as the excess of it may by simple adsorption cause non-specific reaction, just as in the Wassermann test, the improper dose of antigen may cause the fixation of the complement in normal cases. The number of experiments with this test is as yet too small to give a definite idea of its usefulness as compared with the Wassermann test for instance (and some of the results seem to show that the reaction can be missed even more easily than the Wassermann reaction in treated cases) but, what is important in connection with my previous work on the Abderhalden test, it shows that in the cases where this reaction is present it is the serum of the patient and not the substratum which offers the source of dialyzable substances.

6 (938)

The effect of the pituitary on the isolated human uterus. (Pre- liminary communication.)

By C. C. Lizs.

[From the Pharmacological Laboratory, College of Physicians and Surgeons.]

Kehrer claims that an extract of the posterior lobe of the pituitary gland is the ideal ecbolic. Indeed, he goes so far as to suggest that the secretion of this portion of the gland is the hormone which induces labor.

In studying the effects of pituitary extracts on isolated human Fallopian tubes and uteri my attention was arrested by the difference in the response of the non-pregnant and parturient organs. The contractions of the parturient tube and uterus were invariably increased in rate and strength when extracts of the gland were applied. The same stimulation was found when an ectopic tube was studied.

The effect of pituitary on the non-pregnant tube or uterus is wholly different. Small doses usually have no effect. Large doses, such as produce marked stimulation of the pregnant uterus, may cause a very definite depression or they may not influence the movements at all. To what is this change in the response of

EFFECT OF PITUITARY ON HUMAN UTERUS. 9

the non-pregnant and parturient uterus due? The simplest explanation would be that, like the cat’s uterus, the human organ changes its innervation, or, rather, during pregnancy its motor innervation becomes predominant. Such, however, is not the case, for epinephrine produces stimulation of the human uterus whether it is pregnant or not. Furthermore, the parturient uterus does not appear to be more susceptible to epinephrine. The only explanation which offers itself is that some substance sensitizes the uterus to pituitary. What this substance is, whether fetal or maternal in origin, I have not yet been able to determine. The sensitizer is certainly not epinephrine, because the previous application of this sympathonimetic amine does not influence in any way the reaction of the non-pregnant organ to pituitary. The difference in response of the two types of uteri throws some light on the discordant results which are said to follow its thera- peutic use.

Quigley has made a very careful review of the clinical literature. From these reports and his own cases he concludes that pituitary extract is an efficient ecbolic only after labor has begun. Hump- stone declares that pituitary will not induce labor and Hirsch has reported that it is of no value as an abortifacient. Patek claims that pituitary allays threatened abortion while Fischer urges that it be employed to complete a miscarriage.

These apparently divergent effects may be harmonized by assuming that the uterus must be sensitized before it will respond to the systemic administration of pituitary. During labor the uterus is so sensitized and hence its almost invariable stimulation. In earlier stages of pregnancy the uterus may be sensitized or not. If it is, pituitary will complete abortion or miscarriage. If it is not so sensitized, the administration is not followed by stimulation of the uterus. During threatened abortion a non-sensitized uterus may remain unaffected or it may be depressed. If it is depressed by pituitary the abortion is allayed. If the uterus is not affected the course of the miscarriage is not shortened.

How early may the uterus become sensitized to pituitary? The experiment on the tubal pregnancy indicates that six weeks after conception pituitary may have a stimulating effect. This also indicates quite clearly that unless we regard tubal rupture as

10 SCIENTIFIC PROCEEDINGS (61).

the result of true labor contractions, we can not assign to the posterior lobe of the hypophysis the réle of hormone for the induction of normal labor. It is true that during pregnancy the pituitary gland hypertrophies and that after the expulsion of the fetus retrograde changes occur. This hypertrophy is limited to the true glandular lobes, the anterior and middle divisions. The posterior lobe shows no sign of increased activity. But it is from the posterior lobe, and from this alone, that the ecbolic principle can be obtained. Furthermore, Kohn denies the existence of an active substance in the posterior lobe during life. He believes that extracts of the gland owe their activity to some decompo- sition product which is formed during the manufacture of the extract. These facts seem to indicate that the posterior lobe is not concerned with normal labor. Though extracts of the pos- terior lobe are pharmacologically very active, the lobe itself is not essential to life. Complete removal of this portion of the gland does not interfere in any way with normal bodily activity. It is the anterior lobe which is essential to life. Oddly enough, extracts of this lobe have not been shown to have a demonstrable pharmacological activity. But it is this lobe which hypertrophies during pregnancy. It is apparent that if the pituitary gland is to be regarded as intimately concerned with the onset of labor, the hormone should be sought not in the posterior lobe but in the anterior portion of the gland.

7 (939) On the action of temperature and humidity on the organism. By FREDERIC S. LEE and ERNEST L. ScorTmT.

[From the Department of Physiology, Columbia University, New York.]

The main object of the present research is to discover whether objective signs of physical inefficiency may be found in individuals when subjected to an atmosphere of high temperature and high humidity. Cats were used as the subject of experimentation, and were confined individually for a period of six hours within a small chamber supplied with abundant moving air. With one

ACTION OF TEMPERATURE AND HUMIDITY. II

group of animals the temperature averaged approximately 21° C. and the humidity approximately 54 per cent.; with the other a temperature of 33° C. and a humidity of 89 per cent. were em- ployed; that is, the animals of the first group were kept under comfortable atmospheric conditions, those of the second group were given air approximating that of a hot, humid summer day. In some of the animals the rectal temperature was observed at the beginning and the end of the period of confinement. At the end of this period the cats were taken from the chamber and killed by instantaneous decapitation. The blood was collected for the estimation of sugar, and certain of the muscles were removed and stimulated until they were exhausted, each con- traction being recorded graphically and the total duration of the working period and the total amount of work performed being determined. The average results of the observations on the muscles are presented herewith.

Tempera- Duration of Percentage

Humidity | Work i Work Done f Work ture in i n 7 oO Degrees C, |i Per Cent. Minutes! in Gm. Mm. Doses Sternal strip of diaphragm... 21.3 55 196 157,665 100 33 89 212 136,123 86 Extensor longus digitorum... 2I 59 101 31,305 100 32.6 89 80 25,714 82 Sanconriusr en ceeie acon 21.7 49 138 46,598 100 33 89 109 29,785 63-9

Under the influence of the high temperature and the high humidity, therefore, the total amount of work which the muscles are capable of doing before exhaustion sets in is markedly diminished; and the total period of working power is shortened, except in the case of the diaphragm.

The observations show that the bodily temperature of the animals rises in the atmosphere of high temperature and high humidity. This is seen from the following average temperatures.

Temperature of Air Humidity of Air in Bodily Temperature Bodily Temperature

in Degrees C, Per Cent. before Confinement. after Confinement. 21.4 50 39-13 39.03

33-1 89 39-33 39.81

12 SCIENTIFIC PROCEEDINGS (61).

In addition to any bearing which the content of sugar in the blood of these animals may have upon the problem in hand the apparatus offered a means for determining whether certain ex- treme weather conditions would introduce a disturbing factor in experiments involving the determination of sugar in the blood, In order to avoid vitiating the results by emotional hyperglycemia, only the blood from those animals which appeared quiet during confinement in the chamber and upon removal was taken for analysis. The normal or standard percentage of sugar in the blood of cats—o.o69 per cent.—reported elsewhere by one of us,! was determined upon animals which could be presumed to be in every way comparable with chose used in these experiments except for the experimental conditions. The results of our observations are as follows:

Sugar: Gm, Per Cent. Sugar: Percentage of Tempera- aie Standard Nevat| see eae oe aan eee Animals, | Air in De- | alculated to 30 grees C. Per Cent. Acwually Gms. of Blood per Actual. Calculated, uns Kg. of Body Wt. [ea ee ee eee Eee 9 21.27 56.44 0.068 0.067 98.6 94.8 5 | 33.08 89.50 0.060 0.057 87.0 83.0

It is thus seen that the average found for the cats kept at the low temperature and low humidity was practically identical with the standard, while the animals kept under the adverse conditions described gave an average of only 0.060 per cent., or 87 per cent. of the standard. The significance of this difference is somewhat difficult to determine; this is especially so in the absence of the coefficient of respiration. It is possible that less sugar is mobilized in response to the lessened heat requirements of the organism.

1E.L. Scott, American Journal of Physiology, 34, 1914, p. 271.

STUDIES OF BASAL METABOLISM. 13

8 (940)

Studies of the basal metabolism and its relation to the body surface in obesity, myxedema, and pituitary disease.

By J. H. MeEans.!

[From the Medical Service of the Mass. General Hospital.]

The following determinations of basal metabolism were cal- culated by indirect calorimetry from the oxygen absorption and the R. Q., these factors being obtained by means of Benedict’s unit apparatus (mouthpiece and spirometer). At least three ten-minute periods were run, and the average taken for that day’s basal metabolism. In case I the calculation included the esti- mation of calories due to non-protein metabolism and to this was added that due to protein. In the other cases the protein metabolism was ignored. None of these cases had over 6-7 grams urinary nitrogen per day, so that the protein element would not affect the total calorie calculation by more than I to 2 per cent.

The body surface has been calculated by Meeh’s formula and also by DuBois’s.

The results are given in the table.

Cases studied were:

Case 1. Simple obesity of many years duration.

Case 2. Very marked obesity, also of many years dura- tion.

Case 3. Sudden gain in weight in last year and a half. Sugar tolerance abnormally low. Thought to be hypo- pituitary. Said to have a polyuria, not noticed in ward.

Case 4. Acromegaly of long standing. Sugar tolerance now high. Thought to be going over into a hypo- pituitary stage.

Case 5. Typical myxedema. Never treated with thy- roid.

Subject Dr. P. Normal control. Large muscular man.

In the cases studied the surface area by Mecech’s formula was from 10 to 30 per cent. below that by DuBois’s. In two cases of marked obesity the metabolism per square meter (DuBois) was

1 Walcott Fellow in Clinical Medicine, Harvard University.

SCIENTIFIC PROCEEDINGS (61).

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ENERGY METABOLISM OF INFAN7S. 15

normal. One case of obesity thought to be of pituitary origin was IO per cent. from the normal average and hence may be regarded as suspicious. The case of acromegaly was also 10 per cent. below, and the myxedema 27 per cent. below.

9 (941)

The energy metabolism of infants in relation to age and nutritive condition.

By Joun R. MoURLIN.

[From the Physiological Laboratory of Cornell University Medical College, New York City.]

Recent studies of the heat production of infants by Benedict and Talbot,! Bailey and Murlin? and Murlin and Hoobler® indi- cate a progressive increase from birth to the age of one year, whether the metabolism is reckoned on the basis of weight or on the basis of surface area (Meeh).

On the basis of weight the average metabolism of 13 newborn infants, determined while they were sleeping, is 1.87 calories per kilogram and hour; of normal infants between the ages of two and four months inclusive, it is 2.38 calories per kilogram and hour; between 6 and 12 months the average is 2.45 calories per kilogram and hour.

On the basis of a square meter of skin surface the metabolism of the newborns (up to 14 days of age) is, on the average, 25 calories per square meter and hour; of normal infants from two to four months inclusive, 35 calories per square meter and hour; and between six and twelve months the average is nearly 42 calories per square meter and hour. These differences on the basis of surface area are based on the assumption that the surface bears the same relation to weight (11.9 v (W)?) in all.

An analysis of all the observations on infants between the ages of two months and one year studied by Howland,’ Benedict

1 Carnegie Institution of Washington, Publ. No. 201; also Amer. Journ. Dis. of Children, 1914, VIII, p. t.

2 Proc. of this Soc., 1914, XI, p. 109.

3 Ibid., 1914, XI, p. 115.

4 Zeitschr. f. physiolog. Chemie, 1911, LX XIV, p. 1; also Trans. of XVth Cong. on Hygiene and Demography, 1012, II, Pt. II, p. 438.

16 SCIENTIFIC PROCEEDINGS (61).

and Talbot and Murlin and Hoobler shows that the normal, recently-fed, sleeping infant produces about two and a half calories per kilogram and hour. With but two exceptions (out of 48) the underweight and atrophic infants produce more than this and the overweight infants produce less. It is suggested, therefore, that for practical purposes two and one half calories per kilogram and hour or sixty (in round numbers) calories per kilogram and twenty-four hours may be regarded as the average normal heat production of sleeping infants within this range.

10 (942)

The measurement of the surface area of adults. By DELAFIELD Du Bols (by invitation) and EUGENE F. Du Bois.

[From the Russell Sage Institute of Pathology in affiliation with the Second Medical Division of Bellevue Hospital.]

Meeh’s! formula K WT? is accurate in principle only when applied to individuals of differing weights but of similar body form.

The surface area of five adults of widely different weights and forms was measured by the following method. The subject was dressed in a tight fitting suit of union underwear, the hands were covered with cotton gloves, the feet with socks and the head with a tight fitting bag of woven cotton material. The gloves were then covered with melted paraffin and over the rest of the surface strips of paper were pasted in such a manner that a stiff mould of the body was formed. This was then cut in small pieces which would lie flat. Patterns of these pieces were made by printing them on photographic paper of known area and weight. These patterns were then cut out and weighed and the surface areas of the various parts of body calculated.

Many linear measurements of the subject were taken and an effort made to find the length and average breadth of each part of the body. After numerous trials characteristic measurements of length and breadth were chosen. The products of the length and breadth when divided into the surface area as actually deter-

1 Meeh, Zeitschr. f. Biol., XV, 435.

MEASUREMENT OF SURFACE AREA OF ADULTS. 17

mined, gave factors which varied but little in the five cases measured. The total surface area of the body can be estimated by multiplying the length, breadth and the proper constant for each part of the body and then adding the parts together. This new formula gave the following errors in the five cases measured: Small fat cretin +0.5 per cent.; short, stout man +1.3 per cent.; tall, thin man —3.8 percent.; tall man of average build +-0.9 per cent.; short, very fat woman +2.0 per cent.

Meeh’s formula applied to these same individuals gave errors amounting to +21 per cent., +17 per cent., +7 per cent., +14 per cent. and +36 per cent. respectively. Bouchard! who measured a series of adults found the following errors in Meeh’s formula: very thin woman —3 per cent., normal man +2 per cent., normal woman +14 per cent., large man +12 per cent., very fat man +33 per cent.

There seems to be a plus error in Meeh’s formula which becomes very large in the case of fat individuals. Since Meeh’s formula has been the standard for 35 years it is advisable for the present to retain it in the case of individuals who are thin or of approximately the normal build, since, in their case, the error is not great. In the case of fat people or those of unusual body shape it is preferable to make use of the proposed formula which is determined by linear measurement alone.

CONSTANTS AND MEASUREMENTS USED IN FORMULA.

Head, AB, 0.308.

A, around vertex and chin. B, around occiput and forehead, just above eyebrows. Arms, F(G + H + J), 0.558.

F, outer end of clavicle to lower border of radius.

G, circumference of arm at level of upper border of axilla. H, largest circumference of forearm.

I, smallest circumference of wrist.

ands Ji,.2.22.

J, lower posterior border of radius to tip of second finger. K, circumference of open hand at knuckles.

Trunk, L(M + N), 0.703.

1 Bouchard, ‘‘Traite de Pathologie generale,”’ Paris, 1900, III, 200, 384.

18 SCIENTIFIC PROCEEDINGS (61).

L, suprasternal notch to upper border of pubes.

M, circumference of abdomen at level of umbilicus.

N, circumference of thorax at level of nipples in the male, and just above breasts in the female.

Thighs, O(P + Q), 0.508.

O, superior border of the great trochanter to the lower border of the patella.

P, circumference of thigh just below the level of the perineum.

Q, circumference of hips and buttocks at level of trochanters.

Legs, RS, 1.40.

R, from sole of foot to lower border of patella.

S, circumference at level of lower border of patella.

Feet, 7(U + V), 1.04.

T, length of foot.

U, circumference of foot at base of little toe.

V, smallest circumference of ankle.

II (943) On the law relating milk flow to age in dairy cattle. By RAYMOND PEARL.

[From the Biological Laboratory of the Maine Agricultural Experi- ment Station.]!

Before the production records of different cows may be criti- cally compared, as in the study of the inheritance of milk flow, for example, it is necessary to make proper corrections for the differing ages of the individuals compared. It has long been a matter of common knowledge that there is a change in amount of milk produced as a cow grows older. Before any proper correc- tions for this factor can be applied it is essential to determine with precision, and, so far as may be, generality, the quantitative law connecting these two characters milk flow and age. By the associations and individuals who have in charge the Advanced Registry records in all of the dairy breeds of cattle it is generally, and quite erroneously, assumed that the relation between these two variables is a strictly linear one.

1 Paper No. 74.

Law RELATING MILK FLow To AGE. 19

During the past two years I have been engaged (with the assistance of Messrs. John Rice Miner, John W. Gowen, and S. W. Patterson) upon a study of this problem, as a necessary pre- liminary to a genetic investigation of milk production. The essential result reached may be stated as follows: The amount of milk produced by a cow in a given unit of time (7 days, I year, etc.) is a logarithmic function of the age of the cow.

The actual curves which were found to graduate successfully the non-linear regression lines in the case of the different breeds were of the general form

Y=a+0X + cX’?+d log X,

where Y denotes the amount of milk produced in a given time, and X denotes the age of the cow. This form of curve is one with which we are already familiar in connection with studies of growth, the change in size of the hen’s egg with age, etc.

The law may be stated verbally ia the following way: Milk flow increases with increasing age but at a constantly diminishing rate (the increase in any given time being inversely proportional to the total amount of flow already attained) until a maximum flow is reached. After the age of maximum flow is passed the flow diminishes with advancing age and at an increasing rate. The rate of decrease after the maximum is, on the whole, much slower than the rate of increase preceding the maximum.

In general the law above stated applies to the absolute amount of fat produced in a unit time as well as to the milk.

Fitted curves, on which the above statements are based, have been worked out for three of the four important ‘‘dairy breeds,” and data are in hand indicating that the same general law holds for all breeds of cattle. Detailed reports of these investigations will appear in another place.

20 SCIENTIFIC PROCEEDINGS (61).

12 (944)

A case of diabetes mellitus complicated by alimentary pentosuria and occasional lactosuria.

By JacosB ROSENBLOOM, M.D., PH.D.

[From the Biochemical Laboratory of the Western Pennsylvania Hospital, Pittsburgh, Pa.|

The writer has completed a study of certain phases of metab- olism in an adult suffering from diabetes mellitus, who also pre- sented a very low tolerance for pentose and for lactose.

13 (945)

Metabolism studies in a case of diabetes insipidus, in a four- year-old boy.

By JacoB ROSENBLOOM, M.D., PuH.D., and Harry T. Price, M.D.

[From the Biochemical Laboratory of the Western Pennsylvania Hospital, Pittsburgh, Pa.]

For a period of nine days we have studied, in a boy suffering from diabetes insipidus, the nitrogen metabolism and urinary nitrogen partition; the sulphur metabolism and urinary sulphur partition; the calcium, magnesium, and phosphorous metabolism, the chloride metabolism and the fluid intake and output.

The studies were carried out on low and high protein diets and on low and high sodium chloride diets. In some respects the condition seemed to be due to a defect of the kidney to secrete a concentrated urine; in other respects this was not so.

ORIGIN OF GASTRIC HYDROCHLORIC ACID. 21

14 (946) The origin of gastric hydrochloric acid. By OLAF BERGEIM.

[From the Laboratory of Physiological Chemistry of Jefferson Medi- cal College.|

Of the many suggestions brought forward with regard to the chemistry of the process by which the hydrochloric acid of the gastric juice is produced, one by Maley! has certain things in its favor which cannot be said of the others. This relates to the interaction of disodium phosphate and calcium chloride with the production of hydrochloric acid and tricalcium phosphate. Prob- ably what really takes place when solutions of these are mixed, is the formation of acid Ca phosphate which hydrolyzes rapidly at room temperature to form a basic calcium phosphate and an acid phosphate containing more phosphoric acid than the mono- phosphate. The latter may be considered to act upon the calcium chloride with production of free hydrochloric acid. Maley showed that free HCl could be dialyzed from such a mixture, which we have confirmed also by distillation with or without the addition of manganese dioxide. In the former case abundant chlorine is liberated. Fatal objections to the theory in its original form are that there is no adequate supply of calcium chloride in the organism for this purpose and that no provision was made for removal of the insoluble triple phosphate which must be formed. The source of chlorine ions can not be other than the NaCl of the blood. It can be shown that NaCl is decomposed by acid calcium phosphate but not by acid sodium phosphate. That acid calcium phosphate can be produced in the body is indicated by facts given in another place.2 Nuclei contain much Ca and as this is not present in the inorganic form and as nucleins are with diffi- cully if at all separated from it, apparently it exists in combina- tion with nucleic acids. This being the case and as phospho- nuclease has been shown to be present in nearly all tissues the splitting off of acid Ca phosphate presents no great theoretical

1 Maley, Zeit. f. physiol. Chem., Vol. 1, p. 174, 1877. 2 This Journal, 1914, Vol. 12, p. 22.

22 SCIENTIFIC PROCEEDINGS (61).

difficulty. This on hydrolysis in the presence of NaCl would yield HCl. That certain of the leucocytes carry the Ca and P for this process is probable as well