observers have to this replied that a bee cannot vomit the contents of its true stomach, because of a valve which intervenes between it and the honey-stomach; but Schönfeld has shown that the structure, mistaken by these observers for a valve, does not function as one, but is in reality an internal mouth, over which the animal has voluntary control, and by means of which it is able to eat and drink the contents of the honey stomach when necessity or inclination arises. By light pressure on the stomach, and stretching out the animal's neck, the contents of the stomach can be easily pressed out.

The present investigations entirely confirm Schönfeld's view that this substance comes from the bee's stomach. The subject was investigated from the point of view of its chemical composition, and also care was taken to investigate, individually, the juice as occurring in the cells of the three varieties of bees, queens, drones, and workers.

Some preliminary microscopical examinations of this substance yielded the following results, which are quite in accord with the subsequent chemical analyses:

1. The food of the queen-bee larvæ is the same during the whole of the larval period; it is free from pollen grains, which have been reduced to a thickish but homogeneous juice by the digestive action of the bee's stomach.

2. The food of the larval drones is also, during the first four days of the larval period, free from pollen, and appears to have been completely digested previously. After four days their food is rich in pollen grains, which have, however, undergone a certain amount of digestion. The food stuff of the larvæ is probably formed from beebread.

The following table gives the average percentages obtained from several analyses in most cases :

All kinds are thus rich in nitrogen; all were of a greyish-white colour; that of the queen-bee was the stickiest, that of the workers the most fluid. Peptone appeared to be absent; the greater part of the nitrogenous material present was proteïd. The ethereal extract was in all cases acid, but formic acid was absent.

The sugar present was, in all cases, invert-sugar, whereas the sugar in pollen grains is invariably cane-sugar.

The table shows certain differences in the composition of the different kinds of larval food, more especially in the composition of the solids present. Its composition is, moreover, quite different from that of the bee's saliva, which, for instance, contains no sugar. The difference between the proportional amount of the different solids present in the different forms of larval food is a constant one, and no doubt this variation has in view the particular requirements of the larvæ in question. Certain small but constant differences were also observed in the chemical composition of the food of the larval drones during the first four days and at subsequent periods.

Not only is there a difference in the quality, but there is also one in the quantity of the food supplied. The juice from 100 queen-bee cells yielded 3.6028 grams of dry substance, that from 100 drones' cells 0.2612 gram, that from 100 workers' cells 0·0474 gram.

W. D. H. Foddering of Horses, and the Circulation of Mineral Matter in the Horse. By E. WOLFF and others (Bied. Centr., 1888, 241-252).-The question as to whether the albuminoids digested by the horse were really of higher value than a similar quantity of digested carbohydrates has not been satisfactorily answered; therefore a new set of experiments has been instituted with fodder rich and poor in nitrogen, and the work estimated by a dynamometer. Analytical tables are given showing the composition of the food and the manure produced, &c. The results obtained were the digestible albumin has, above a certain minimum, no higher value as regards power of producing work than an equal quantity of starch-meal, or the starch equivalent of digestible cellulose and fat; field beans and maize are alike: to keep a horse of 500 kilos. weight in health and doing no work, 4200 grams weight daily of fodder is sufficient, provided that at least one-half consists of hay. As regards the circulation of the minerals in the horse, a large proportion of the lime (60-100 grams) is excreted as carbonate in the urine, causing that to be thick of the magnesia one-third to two-fifths of the total quantity contained in the fodder appears in the urine, whereas the alkalis to the extent of 30 per cent. of the total is voided in the solids (sheep 5 per cent., oxen 10 to 12 per cent.). The phosphates also and the silicates are found altogether in the solids, whilst chlorine appears in the urine. As to the sulphates, they appear for the most part in the dung, and the more when the fodder is difficult of digestion and not too poor in nitrogen. The amount of urine voided is influenced by the percentage of digestible nitrogen and by the quantity of salts passing into the urine.

E. W. P.

Acetanilide and Acetotoluide in Relation to Animal Metabolism. By M. JAFFE and P. HILBERT (Zeit. physiol. Chem., 12, 295321). Schmiedeberg (Arch. f. exp. Pathol. u. Pharmakol., 8) has shown that aniline is probably oxidised in the body of the dog to form paramidophenol, which is passed in the urine in combination with sulphuric acid. A fresh examination into the fate of aniline com

pounds in the body seemed to be necessary, as it is known that the amido-group often appears to modify the fate of complex aromatic molecules in the organism. The acetyl-derivative of aniline (antifebrin) is moreover of practical interest from its use in therapeutics. Experiments were made on dogs and rabbits, the urine of these animals being examined after the administration of these substances; the crystalline substances separated from the urine were purified by recrystallisation, their reactions carefully studied, and finally they were subjected to elementary analysis. The following are the results obtained :

1. The change in acetanilide is different in herbaceous and carnivorous animals. (a.) In the rabbit, it is oxidised to form paramidophenol, with complete elimination of the acetyl-group. (b.) In dogs there is a small formation of paramidophenol, but the chief change consists in a simultaneous oxidation of the aniline residue to orthamidophenol, of the acetyl-group to carboxyl, and next a union occurs with the formation of phenylcarbamic acid, the anhydride of which, orthohydroxycarbanil, is excreted in the urine. The latter can be isolated in large quantities by heating extracts of that secretion with hydrochloric acid.

Both in rabbits and dogs, the metabolic products of acetanilide are excreted in combination with sulphuric acid.

2. The three isomeric acetotoluides differ in their chemical behaviour in the animal body. (a.) Paracetotoluide is changed completely into paracetamidobenzoic acid, oxidation being limited to the methyl-group. (b.) Orthacetotoluide undergoes in dogs a decomposition completely analogous to that suffered by acetanilide. Whilst the methyl-group remains intact, a phenol is formed which combines with the product of oxidation of the acetyl-group; the end (excreted) product being methyl hydroxycarbanil or hydroxycarbamidocresol, which may be regarded as the anhydride of hydroxycresylcarbamic acid; this product in the urine occurs in combination with sulphuric acid, and rotates the plane of polarised light to the left. (c.) Metacetotoluide is in dogs and rabbits oxidised to form metacetamidobenzoic acid, which is passed as a lævorotatory compound which was not further investigated.

3. Of the three isomeric acetotoluides, the ortho-compound is the only one which has poisonous properties.

4. The para- and ortho-compounds do not affect the body temperature; the meta-compound causes a lowering of the temperature. This shows that no inference can be drawn from the chemical constitution of these compounds, as to their effect on body temperature, for orthacetotoluide is completely analogous to antifebrin; it, therefore, might be fairly expected to have antipyretic properties; but, as just stated, experiment shows that it has not. W. D. H.

Chylous Pericardial Fluid. By K. HASEBROEK (Zeit. physiol. Chem., 12, 289-294).-A milky-looking fluid removed from the pericardium (post-mortem) of a patient at Strassburg (the clinical details of whose case are briefly given), was found microscopically to

contain the histological elements of chyle, but it did not yield any fibrin-even when a drop of blood was added to it. Chemical analysis gave the following result (in parts per 1000) :

:

On comparing these numbers with those which are the results of analyses of pericardial fluid by other observers, the following table is obtained :

:

The solids in the present case are thus far in excess of those in ordinary pericardial fluids; the large amount of fat is equalled only in the chyle among the fluids of the body.

By further contrast of the numbers obtained in the present case with those in the very few existing analyses of the chyle, or of chylous effusions into the pleura and peritoneum, it is found that there is a close agreement not only in the percentage of fat, but also of total solid proteïds, ethereal extract (cholesterin, lecithin, and fat). The conclusion is therefore drawn that the present case is not one of pericarditis, but of effusion from the lacteal vessels into the pericardium (chylopericardium). W. D. H.

Toxic Action of Alcohols and Artificial Bouquets. By LABORDE and MAGNAN (Chem. Centr., 1888, 18, from J. Pharm. [5], 16, 448—454).—The following are the chief results of experiments on dogs-Ethyl alcohol from all sources was found to have the same physiological action. Furfuraldehyde, which occurs with pyridine and other impurities in commercial alcohols, has strong toxic properties. The distillate of Jamaica rum boiling at 83°, when injected subcutaneously, causes strong convulsions.

Salicaldehyde, which is added to "Vermuth," Bitter," and "Essence de renie de Prés," produces strong epileptic convulsions. Methyl salicylate, which is used as a substitute for oil of winter

green in "Vermuth and "Bitter," also produces convulsions,

although not of an epileptic form.

Finally, benzonitrile and benzaldehyde, which are added in small quantities to "noyau," produce tetanus and even death.

J. P. L.

Physiological Action of Nickel Salts. By LABORDE and A. RICHE (J. Pharm. [5], 17, 1-11, 59-62, 97-105).-The action of nickel salts on the animal economy has been investigated with very contradictory results. Experiments were made on rabbits, &c., dogs and frogs by additions made to the food and by various methods of injection. Nickel sulphate, injected to the amount of 0.5 to 10 gram per kilo. body-weight, poisons a rabbit or dog. From 0.5 to 30 gram passed into the stomach produced vomiting and diarrhoea, but it is hardly possible to produce death this way. Nickel is considerably less active than copper, and its usual application in everyday life may be considered uninjurious.

J. T.

Chemistry of Vegetable Physiology and Agriculture.

Saccharomyces Ellipsoideus and its Use in the Preparation of Wine from Barley. By G. JACQUEMIN (Compt. rend, 106, 643— 644). Experiments have been made to determine whether saccharomyces ellipsoideus is a stable form or is merely an abnormal form of beer yeast developed under special conditions and liable to revert to the original form; but these experiments are not yet complete.

The action of elliptical yeast on barley wort produced a liquid with an alcoholic strength of 6° containing 60 grams of dry extract and 3 grams of ash per litre. It had the following percentage composition:-Alcohol, 480; reducing sugar, 100; dextrin, 300; albuminoïds, &c., 1.28; glycerol, 0.20; succinic acid, 004; acetic acid, 0-02; potassium hydrogen tartrate, 0.25; ash, 0-23; water, 89-18. The liquid has an agreeable flavour, and contains a greater proportion of albuminoïds and phosphates than wine from grapes. It differs from the latter in giving an abundant precipitate with tannin. The barley may be partially replaced by crushed wheat. Barley and wheat worts are cheaper than malt worts, and give products of equal quality. To obtain a liquid with an alcoholic strength of 8° or 10°, it is necessary to mix the wort with sugar or to use a greater proportion of grain.

In these experiments it was found that the elliptical wine yeast remained stable for 18 months, and it would therefore seem to be quite distinct from beer yeast.

When the wine obtained in this way from barley is distilled, it yields brandy of good flavour, whilst the brandy from wine produced by beer yeast has a bad flavour. C. H. B