72 ABSTRACTS OF CIIEUICAL PAPERS.P h y s i o l o g i c a l C h e m i s t r y .Digestibility of Potatoes and Carrots with Hay and Oatsby the Horse. By E. WOLFF and others (Bied. Centr., 184,615-617).-The following are digestive coefficients of potatoes and carrots con-sumed by two horses, the second having received only the carrots inconjunction with hay and oats, for the first died from colic during the‘‘ potato ” period :-Dry Organic Non-nit rogen.matter. matter. Albumin. Fibrin. matter.Potatoes.. . , 90.46 93.28 88.01 9-14 99.36Carrols . . . . 84.86 87.23 99.31 - 93.81Compared m-ith the digestive coefficients of sheep and pigs forpotatoesPHYSIOLOGICAL CHEMISTRY. 73Organic Nun-nitrogen.matter. Albumin. matter.Sheep.. ...... 87.5 65.1 92.8Pig .........93.3 52.5 98.0the comparison is much in favour of the horse.Referring again to the experiments, we find that carrots greRtlyassist the digestion of the fibre of hay, and that oats rather reducethe digestion of hay fibre, viz., 44.65-38.42, but, that the percentageagain rises when the carrots are consumed with the oats and hay.E. W. P.Elimination of Phosphoric Acid in the Urine in Insanityand Epilepsy. By A. LATLLER (Cow@. rend., 99, 572--573).-Theaii thor’s results, obtained from many hundred analyses made whilstresident officer in a large asylum, agree with those of Mairet. I nacute delirium, phosphoric acid and urea are eliminated in notableexcess; in excitable mania, the phosphoric acid is in slight excess,whilst the amciunt of urea is normal ; and in simple insanity the urinehas the normal composition. I n acute or excitable lypemnnia, theamount of urea eliminated is abnormally high, whilst that of phos-phoric acid is abnormally low.I n simple lypemania, the compositionof the urine is normal. I n general paralysis, the elimination of bothphosphoric acid and urea is related to the general morbid conditionsof the patient. A t or immediately after epileptic seizures, the urinecontains a high proportion of phosphoric acid and a low proportion ofurea. If the seizures succeed one another rapidly, the proportion ofboth phosphoric acid and urea is increased; but in the intervalbetween seizures the urine has the normal composition.C . H. B.Influence of Exhausted Beetroot Pulp on Cow’s Milk.ByA. ANDOUARD and V. DBZAUNAY (Con@. rend., 99, 443--445).-Whenbeetroot pulp, exhausted by diffusion and preserved i n silos, isemployed as part of the food of cows, the yield of milk is con-siderably increased, and the animals themselves gain in weight, theincrease in both cases depending on the particular animal and thenature of the other constituents of its food. The proportion of butteris likewise augmented, and apparent’ly its qiiality is not affected. Onthe other hand, if the pulp is given in large quantity without admix-ture of a sufficient proportion of green food, the milk has a disagree-able taste, and is much more liable to spontaneous coagulation. ‘l’hesedefects are probably shared by other easily fermentable foods, and itfollows t’hat such substances are to be avoided if the milk is requiredfor drinking or cooking purposes, but are advantageous when theproduction of butter or the fattening of the beast is the main object.C.H. B.Various Cattle Diseases. By EGGELING and PASTEUR (Ried.Ceittr., 1884, 540 -544) .-Eggeling describes two diseases to whichswine are liable ; both are of the nature of erysipelas, one contagious,the other not. He throws no light, on their origin, prevention, orcure. He also draws attention to a disease to vchich horned cattl74 ABSTRACTS OP CHEMICAL PAPEHS.are subject on farms attached to distilleries of potato-spirit, due toover-eating the refuse and its fermentation.P;lst,eur gives further information respecting his experiments onhydrophobia. When the virus from a mad dog is communicated t oan ape, from this to another, arid so on, the poison becomes soweakened that when again injected hypodermically into another dogi t is incapable of producing madness, and even when introduced intot'he brain by trepanning, an operation which hitherto has always beenfollowed by madness, it failed and, on the other hand, rendered theanimal invulnerable against the disease.Wheil, however, the virusis passed into the bodies of rabbits or guinea-pigs, its intensity isincreased bg each inoculation, and after a few such, when again corn-municaked t o the dog produces madness of a very much more dreadfultype, arid death invariably follows. Although the virus is weakenedwhen passed into the bodies of monkeys, it can be made to resumeits virulence by inoculating rabbits or guinea-pigs from the monkey,and so on until it is again passed to a dog, producing madness anddeath.Pasteur suggests a means of utilising the action of the virus onrabbits-from a dead rabbit he inoculates a live one, from that asecond, and so on ; but from each of these animals he inoculates adog (the same dog), the poison increases in virulence at each opera-tion, but the dog has passed through the previous stage and is notharmed, so that when the intensity of the virus is a t its maximumthe dog bea,rs it without hurt, although it would madden and killmother not so prepared.J. P.Physiological Effect of Lead on Ruminants. By ELLENRERGEBand HOFNIEISTER (Died.Centr., 1884, 536-540) .-The chronic effectsof repeated doses of lead on domestic animals has not been muchstudied ; lead salts, as is well known, have a strong affinit]y foralbumin, and when taken even in yery small quantities the accumula-tion of lestd albnminate in the systetn produces serious effects.Sheep were the animals experimented on, and the salt of leademployed was the acetate, in doses of 0.5 to 3 grams per day, gradu-ally illcreasing from the smaller quantity. The symptoms of leadsickness in the sheep are not remai*kuble, loss of appetite, apathy,disturbed rumination, muscular weakness, dry dull wool, diminntionof urine and of urea, disappenraiice of hippuric acid, presence ofalbumin in the urine, and protruding bowel.To determine the presence of lesd in the organs, the author in-cinerates, extracts with nitric acid, and precipitates with sulphnrettedhydrogen. The quantity contairied by different organs varies con-siderably, as much was found in the kidneys as in the liver, contraryto expectation-oiie would expect most in the liver, the metal comingearlier into contact with it by means of the portal vein. After thekidneys and liver, most metal is found in the salivary glands andpancreas, then follow the bones and nervous system ; the blood andmusculai- system were poor in lead, but the spleen held a compara-tivrly large quantity. The author thinks the poison attacks thenerrous system first, and then the muscular. Excretion takes placYEGETABLE PHTSIOLOQY AND AGRICKLTURE. 75h-y the kidneys, liver, pancreas, and saliva, according t o the prepnra-tion of lead emplojed ; it is perceptible in the urine in about 40 hours.J. F