By other ways When in another seven days 86-426 grammes of nitrogen were taken, but, in addition, sugar was also given, there passed off The animal increased in weight much faster with than without the sugar.1 3. The effect on the extractives is unknown. 4. The uric acid is lessened (Böcker). The amount of the hippuric acid is unknown. 5. The sulphuric acid is probably lessened by sugar, but further experiments are needed. 6. The phosphoric acid is certainly lessened; for the independent experiments of Böcker and Hegar agree on this point. Böcker indeed holds that the lessening of this acid, and especially of the phosphate of lime, is the most marked effect of the sugar. In nine days there was a retention in the body of no less than 9.46 grammes, or 147 grains, of phosphate of lime; an almost incredible amount.2 This must have resulted either from retarded metamorphosis of bony or of some other tissue, in which the earthy phosphates enter largely, or the phosphate of the food must have been retained in the intestinal canal by some new combination formed there. Of this, however, there is not the slightest proof. 7. The effect on the chlorine is not certain; if the usual quantity be taken, it is probably excreted as usual. 8. The acidity is not, according to Roberts,3 lessened by cane sugar and honey. (c.) When starch food is added in excess to ordinary diet. The effect of starchy food is probably the same as that of sugar, but no experiments on them have yet been made on Bischoff and Voit, however, have proved that in dogs. the same effects are produced by starch as by sugar. men. 1 Hoppe discusses very ably the form in which the nitrogen was retained. He also believes that the sugar in the blood limits the oxidation of the albuminous substances, and he thinks these then undergo fatty degeneration. 2 The employment of sugar in rickets and mollities ossium at once suggests itself, if these experiments are confirmed. If sugar forms lactic acid, as generally believed, it is plain that this acid has no effect in dissolving the earths of the bones, as has been suggested. 3 Op. cit., p. 59. 4 The careful observations of Lawes and Gilbert on the fattening of animals seem also decidedly to show that the starch foods save the protein food from too rapid destruction. (Journal of the Royal Agricultural Society, 1854.) 3. Vegetable Food. Ordinary vegetables, taken as the sole food, produce the following effects: 1. The water is sometimes unaltered, sometimes increases, especially when potatoes are largely used (Beneke.) 2. The urea lessens; the normal excretion being taken as unity, vegetable food reduces it to 0.686 (Lehmann). This is attributable to the lessened amount of nitrogen usually present in vegetable food. The experiments of V. Franque, Warnecke, Haughton, and others, agree tolerably closely with the rule deduced from Lehmann's observation, though, on the whole, the diminution is a little less, viz., from one fourth to one fifth. 3. The pigment, and the "extractives" generally, are considerably increased. 4. The uric acid is lessened, in the proportion of from 1 to 0-887 (Lehmann). Ranke's observations imply a less effect than this; in fact, one day of almost pure vegetable diet gave as much uric acid as in health. Still, when the vegetable diet was continued, the mean excretion in Ranke was 0.650 grammes, as against 0.880 on flesh diet. 5. The hippuric acid is largely augmented, although no benzoic acid or benzoyl compound be introduced. According to Weissmann, this augmentation is not owing to vegetable albumen or starch, but to lignin. It is not owing to chlorophyll (Hallwachs). 6. The sulphuric acid is variously effected; is usually lessened, owing to lessened ingress of sulphur and sulphates. 7. The phosphoric acid is also lessened from the same causes. 8. The chlorine is very largely increased (V. Franque), from the increased quantity introduced in vegetable food. 9. The bases are augmented, especially on account of the greater introduction of chloride of sodium. 10. The free acidity is lessened, and the urine is often alkaline. This can even be produced by potatoes (Owen Rees and Beneke). 11. Lactates and benzoates have been said to be present in the urine of vegetable-feeders, but it is probable that hippuric acid was mistaken for benzoic. 12. Owing to the lessened acidity, deposits of the phosphates of lime and magnesia are common. The deposits are usually amorphous or globular. It is said that an increased amount of crystals of oxalate of lime is seen after the use of many vegetables, especially after leeks, onions, turnips, parsnips, and carrots.' Sorrel and rhubarb have this effect in a still greater degree, and so, it is said, have tomatas. Whether the oxalate of lime is at 1 Rose, Medical Gazette, 1850. Willis, Urinary Diseases, p. 118. once derived from these vegetables, and merely passes unchanged through the body, or whether they cause some delay of metamorphosis, is unknown. A curious statement is made by Gallois, that though sorrel at first causes the appearance of much oxalate of lime, this effect lessens if the sorrel be continued as food. It seems as if, in some way, the acid was after a time destroyed. Cauliflower and asparagus give rise to few crystals of oxalate of lime. Both these vegetables give very rapidly a nauseous odour to the urine. Asparagus in large quantity will produce, in some persons, temporary glucosuria; the water is sometimes increased, and the tincture has been recommended as a diuretic by Jeaffreson, of Leamington. The colouring-matter of some vegetables, as beet-root, passes into the urine. Fruits.-The effect of fruits on the composition of the urine has not yet been made out; as far as known, they appear to have the same effect as other vegetables. Wohler noticed that the urine became alkaline after the copious use of cherries, apples, and strawberries, on account, it was supposed, of the conversion of the acetates and citrates into carbonates. Höfle could not make his own urine alkaline with 1 lb. of grapes and 16 oz. of black cherries; but Wöhler's statement is correct for most persons. Any vegetable containing benzoic acid or a benzoyl compounded (as some kinds of plums) gives rise to hippuric acid, just as if benzoic acid were taken. Apples, pears, and other customary fruits, do not have this effect. The colouring-matter of bilberry, and of several other fruits, pass into the urine. 4. Special Articles of Diet. 1. Gelatine.-Gelatine does not pass off in the urine, but is entirely destroyed. The amount of urea is greatly increased," and this is generally supposed to occur from direct oxidation in the blood. In being thus oxidized, gelatine appropriates oxygen, which would otherwise act on tissues, and thus, like fat and sugar, 1 De l'Oxalate de Chaux. Paris, 1859. 2 Harley, British and Foreign Med.-Chir. Review, July, 1857, p. 199. 3 Assoc. Med. Journal, 1855, May. Höfle, Chem. und Mikroskop. am Krankenbette, 1st edition, p. 333. 5 Tiedemann's and Gmelin's Zeitschrift, Band i, p. 144. 6 Chem. and Mikrosk. am Krankenb., 1st edition, p. 331. 7 Duchek. Prag. Vierteljahrsch., 1854, Band iii, p. 25. Höfle, op. cit., p. 331. Boussingault. Frerichs, Wagner's Handworterbuch, Band iii, p. 640. Lehmann, Handbuch der Phys. Chem., 1st edit., 1854, p. 183. Bischoff and Voit, Die Gesetze der Ernährung, p. 240 et seq. lessen the metamorphosis. But Bischoff, from his last experiments, questions whether it does not play a more important part than this; whether, in fact, it does not enter into the composition of the tissues, and thus take, in part (one fourth), the place of albumen. For the figures relied on in support of this, I must refer to Bischoff's work on The Laws of Nutrition in Flesh Feeders' (p. 215 et seq.). In either case, the practice of giving strong jellies in fevers, and in cases in which it is wished to arrest metamorphosis, is sound; for either gelatine1 is a true aliment, or, if not, it is an absorber of oxygen, and thus limits metamorphosis. The effect of gelatine on the other constituents of the urine is not known.? 2. Chloride of Sodium.-Chloride of sodium in large doses is rather a medicine than an article of diet; yet there is an advantage in considering its effect under this head. Although it is probable that chloride of sodium is to some extent decomposed3 in the system (Prout), this point has not been worked out; and it is assumed that, even if separated, the base and acid eventually reunite, and emerge from the body in the same combination as that in which they entered. The whole of the chloride of sodium taken with ordinary meals does not pass out with the urine; a portion of it soon emerges (within six hours); another part is retained for some time, and then appears in the urine: so that in twenty-four hours two thirds have passed out, while a considerable amount (one third, Bischoff) never appears in the urine at all, but is either retained for a longer time, or emerges by the skin or, if there be diarrhoea, by the intestines, or occasionally by the saliva (Percy, Wright), or by the milk during suckling (Harnier). Kaupp makes the mean difference between ingress and egress (by the urine) about one fourth in men. The relative difference is, however, less when the quantity is small than when it is large. Kaupp is inclined to believe that some of the chloride is strongly retained by the body." Bischoff's facts open again the apparently interminable discussion on the value of gelatine as an aliment. 2 In determining the amount of urea in fevers, it must be remembered that gelatine increases the urea. I am sure some analyses are vitiated by this fallacy. It is, perhaps, decomposed by even feeble acids, when albumen is present. See paper by author, in the Medical Times and Gazette, 1850. 4 Buchheim, Vierordt's Archiv, 1854, p. 93. 5 Beitrage zur phys. des Harns, von W. Kaupp. Vierordt's Archiv für phys. Heilk., 1855, p. 385. In dogs, Bischoff formerly thought that only a certain quantity could be recovered from the urine, but his later experiments have shown that all passes out through the kidneys in dogs. (Ernährung der Fleischfressers, p. 276.) Yet the good effect on the nutrition of the skin in cattle (Boussingault) makes it probable that in them some of it passes off by that channel. 1. The urinary water is not increased, is even lessened, in man (Kaupp and Falck1). It is increased in dogs (Bischoff). If diarrhoea is produced by the salt, the urinary water is much lessened. 2. The urea is scarcely, if at all, increased in men. Taking the mean of very numerous experiments by Kaupp on himself, the following table will show the result of seventy-two days' experiments on a regulated diet Mean of thirty-six days, the quantity of) Daily excretion of urea. chloride of sodium taken daily being 35.321 grammes. 28.7 grammes, or 443 grains Mean of thirty-six days, the quantity of] chloride of sodium being 11 grammes, or 169 grains; diet the same 33.895 This increase is quite immaterial, and from these experiments it might be concluded that chloride of sodium does not, in any way, influence the urea in men. Boussingault2 and Bischoff have, however, noticed an increase in dogs, but both sets of experiments have been with reason objected to. Botkin3 also noticed an increase in urea, and in the water of the urine, during the first six days, when chloride of sodium was given to dogs; later, however, the amount of urea and of the water fell below the normal amount. This looks more like temporary increased elimination than an augmented metamorphosis. 3. The effect on the other urinary ingredients is unknown. In Kaupp's experiments, the total solids of the urine (the urea and chloride of sodium being deducted) were slightly diminished by very large doses, the mean daily lessening being 4-981 grammes, or 67 grains. To what this is attributable future observations must decide, if, indeed, the amount does not fall within the limits of error. Falck's experiments on himself indicate that the faces were 1 Handb. der Arzneimittellehre, Band i, p. 131. 2 Ann. de Chim., tomes xviii et xix. 3 Virchow's Archiv, Band xv, p. 382. 4 Handbuch der Arzneimittellehre, Band i, p. 131. |