An experimental investigation of the physiological action of saline cathartics / by Matthew Hay.

  • Hay Matthew.
Date:
1884
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: An experimental investigation of the physiological action of saline cathartics / by Matthew Hay. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh. The original may be consulted at the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh.

    49/218 (page 41)
    Series of Experiments, B. On the effect of the salt on the intestine, when injected directly into the viscus after the method of Colin and Moreau; with analyses of the fluid, as to the salt it contained, and as to its digestive and other properties. The method practised by Colin and Moreau, with its modifica- tion by Brieger, I have already described.^ Twenty per cent, or even stronger solutions of the purgative salt, sulphate of soda, or sulphate of magnesia, were used by all the observers who employed this method. In every case there was a consider- able flow of fluid into the injected coil, whether the experi- ment was made on the horse (Colin), the dog (Moreau, Vul- pian, and Brieger), the cat (Brunton), or the rabbit and frog (Bottger). I have repeated these experiments with certain important modifications. It is as yet the only method by which direct proof has been furnished of the salt exciting secretion within the intestines. And it were desirable to know, especially after a consideration of the experiments of Series A. of this investiga- tion, in conjunction with the observations of Thiry, Schiff, and Eadziejewski,^ whether the method employed by Colin and Moreau was reliable. To what extent was the secretion due to the nature of the operation required,—the exposure of the intestine, and its irritation by ligatures, &c. ? Perhaps it was caused by the irritant action of the unusually strong solution of the salt injected. Solutions of less strength than 20 per cent., excepting in a single experiment of Brieger's,^ were not at any time employed; and it is well known that a strong solution of a salt will irritate living tissues, whilst a weaker solution will exercise no such effect. For example, a strong solution of common salt will irritate and inflame even the skin, whilst a 1 or I per cent, solution is so bland as to be the fluid commonly used in physiological experiments for the immersion of delicate tissues and organs whose vitality we wish to preserve uninjured ip. 5. ^ Pp. 8, et seq. ^ Infra, p. 46. D