THE INFLUENCE OF X-RAYS ON THE PROPERTIES OF BLOOD

When rabbits are exposed to x-radiation as described, there results a definite change in the See PDF for Equation ratio of their plasma. This change is evidently one which defines a state of uncompensated alkali excess. The time required for a maximum change in the chemical reaction is the same as that required for a maximum change in the decrease of leucocytes. Sodium bicarbonate injected into the peritoneal cavity is followed by results identical with those observed following exposure to x-rays. The maximum changes occur in a shorter time following bicarbonate injection, but the relation between chemical and morphological changes are the same. We consider this analogy to be an important one in that it is suggestive of a relationship between the effect of salt and the effect of x-rays.     

VALENCY RULE AND ALLEGED HOFMEISTER SERIES IN THE COLLOIDAL BEHAVIOR OF PROTEINS : II. THE INFLUENCE OF SALTS.

It is shown by the older experiments by Loeb and by the experiments reported in this paper that the effect of salts on the membrane potentials, osmotic pressure, swelling of gelatin chloride, and that type of viscosity which is due to the swelling of protein particles, depends only on the valency but not on the chemical nature of the anion of the salt, and that the cation of the salt has no effect on these properties, if the pH of the protein solution or protein gel is not altered by the salt. The so called Hofmeister series of salt effects on these four properties are purely fictitious and due to the failure of the former authors to measure the hydrogen ion concentration of their protein solutions or gels and to compare the effects of salts at the same pH of the protein solution or the protein gel. These results confirm the older experiments of Loeb and together they furnish a further proof for the correctness of the idea that the influence of electrolytes on the four properties of proteins is determined by membrane equilibria. Such properties of proteins which do not depend on membrane equilibria, such as solubility or cohesion, may be affected not only by the valency but also by the chemical nature of the ions of a salt.     

You talkin’ to me? Interactive playback is a powerful yet underused tool in animal communication research

Over the years, playback experiments have helped further our understanding of the wonderful world of animal communication. They have provided fundamental insights into animal behaviour and the function of communicative signals in numerous taxa. As important as these experiments are, however, there is strong evidence to suggest that the information conveyed in a signal may only have value when presented interactively. By their very nature, signalling exchanges are interactive and therefore, an interactive playback design is a powerful tool for examining the function of such exchanges. While researchers working on frog and songbird vocal interactions have long championed interactive playback, it remains surprisingly underused across other taxa. The interactive playback approach is not limited to studies of acoustic signalling, but can be applied to other sensory modalities, including visual, chemical and electrical communication. Here, I discuss interactive playback as a potent yet underused technique in the field of animal behaviour. I present a concise review of studies that have used interactive playback thus far, describe how it can be applied, and discuss its limitations and challenges. My hope is that this review will result in more scientists applying this innovative technique to their own study subjects, as a means of furthering our understanding of the function of signalling interactions in animal communication systems.     

REMARKS ON THE APPENDAGES OF TRILOBITES

The morphology and function of the exite (the pre-epipodite of Stormer) of the trilobite appendage is discussed. After a review of past work, the morphology is found to be considerably less uniform than previously thought. By an analysis of the morphological variation and by analogy with conditions in recent arthropods, function is thought to have been concerned with different activities such as filtering, swimming, or gill ventilation. Gills may have been present on the ventral side of the body, lateral to the appendages.     

Diffusion et osmose selectives: Application au probleme de fonctionnement du nephron

In this article, we propose a new hypothesis concerning biological semipermeable membranes, the walls of vessels or of tubules of the human organism. As regards the properties of diffusion of the membranes, this hypothesis includes the phenomena of active and passive transport; as far as the properties of diffusion and osmosis are concerned, it takes into account the orientation of the phenomena, which explains its name: hypothesis of selectivity.By applying this theory to the problem of the transport of salts and urea in the nephrons, we demonstrate that this property is a necessary and sufficient condition to explain the part and working of the functional unit of the kidney, i.e., the nephron, and to validate its operating model, subject of our study. No contradiction has appeared within the present experimental results.     

Re-evaluation of the RBE of 29 kV x-rays (mammography x-rays) relative to 220 kV x-rays using neoplastic transformation of human CGL1-hybrid cells

Neoplastic transformation of human CGL1-hybrid cells was examined after exposure to 29 kV x-rays (mammography x-rays) and conventional 220 kV x-rays. The study was designed to repeat, under well-defined irradiation and culture conditions, an earlier investigation by Frankenberg et al. (Radiat Res, 2002), and to assess the validity of the high RBE values of 29 kV x-rays that had been reported. The experiments with the two types of x-rays were performed simultaneously and shared the same controls. The transformation yields with both radiation qualities were fitted to the linear-quadratic dependence on absorbed dose, and a corresponding analysis was performed for the data earlier obtained by Frankenberg et al. The transformation yields in the present study exceed those in the earlier investigation substantially, and it appears that the difference reflects inadequate feeding conditions of the cell cultures in the early experiments. The standard error bands of the dose response curves are derived and are seen to be considerably more narrow in the present results. The lowest dose of the 29 kV x-rays was 1 Gy in both studies, and at this dose the RBE vs. the conventional x-rays has now been found to be 2 with a 95% confidence interval of 1.4-2.6. The previous result was about 3.2, but the 95% confidence is very broad for these data. The estimated limit at low doses is 3.4 in the present experiments with a confidence interval that extends from less than 2 to large values.     

Biological explanations and social responsibility

The aim of this paper is to show that critics of biological explanations of human nature may be granting too much to those who oppose such explanations when they argue that the truth of genetic determinism implies an end to critical evaluation and reform of our social institutions. This is the case because when we argue that biological determinism exempts us from social critique we are erroneously presupposing that our social values, practices, and institutions have nothing to do with what makes biological explanations troublesome. My argument is that what constitutes a problem for those who are concerned with social justice is not the fact that particular behaviours may be genetically determined, but the fact that our value system, and social institutions create the conditions that make such behaviours problematic. Thus, I will argue that even if genetic determinism were correct, the requirement of assessing and transforming our social practices and institutions would be far from superfluous. Biology is rarely destiny for human beings and the institutions they create.     

Modelling the fracture-healing process as a moving-interface problem using an interface-capturing approach

We present a novel numerical model of the fracture-healing process using interface-capturing techniques, a well-known approach from fields like fluid dynamics, to describe tissue growth. One advantage of this method is its direct connection to experimentally observable parameters, including tissue-growth velocities. In our model, osteogenesis, chondrogenesis and revascularisation are triggered by mechanical stimuli via mechano-transduction based on previously established hypothesis of Claes and Heigele. After experimentally verifying the convergence of the numerical method, we compare the predictions of our model with those of the already established Ulm bone-healing model, which serves as a benchmark, and corroborate our results with existing animal experiments. We demonstrate that the new model can predict the history of the interfragmentary movement and forecast a tissue evolution that appears similar to the experimental results. Furthermore, we compare the relative tissue concentration in the healing domain with outcomes of animal experiments. Finally, we discuss the possible application of the model to new fields, where numerical simulations could also prove beneficial.     

Accuracy of predicting chemical body composition of growing pigs using dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry

Studies in animal science assessing nutrient and energy efficiency or determining nutrient requirements benefit from gathering exact measurements of body composition or body nutrient contents. Those are acquired by standardized dissection or by grinding the body followed by wet chemical analysis, respectively. The two methods do not result in the same type of information, but both are destructive. Harnessing human medical imaging techniques for animal science can enable repeated measurements of individuals over time and reduce the number of individuals required for research. Among imaging techniques, dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA) is particularly promising. However, the measurements obtained with DXA do not perfectly match dissections or chemical analyses, requiring the adjustment of the DXA via calibration equations. Several calibration regressions have been published, but comparative studies of those regression equations and whether they are applicable to different data sets are pending. Thus, it is currently not clear whether existing regression equations can be directly used to convert DXA measurements into chemical values or whether each individual DXA device will require its own calibration. Our study builds prediction equations that relate body composition to the content of single nutrients in growing entire male pigs (BW range 20–100 kg) as determined by both DXA and chemical analyses, with R² ranging between 0.89 for ash and 0.99 for water and CP. Moreover, we show that the chemical composition of the empty body can be satisfactorily determined by DXA scans of carcasses, with the prediction error ranging between 4.3% for CP and 12.6% for ash. Finally, we compare existing prediction equations for pigs of a similar range of BWs with the equations derived from our DXA measurements and evaluate their fit with our chemical analysis data. We found that existing equations for absolute contents that were built using the same DXA beam technology predicted our data more precisely than equations based on different technologies and percentages of fat and lean mass. This indicates that the creation of generic regression equations that yield reliable estimates of body composition in pigs of different growth stages, sexes and genetic breeds could be achievable in the near future. DXA may be a promising tool for high-throughput phenotyping for genetic studies, because it efficiently measures body composition in a large number and wide array of animals.     

Behavioral phenotyping enhanced--beyond (environmental) standardization

It is basic biology that the phenotype of an animal is the product of a complex and dynamic interplay between nature (genotype) and nurture (environment). It is far less clear, however, how this might translate into experimental design and the interpretation of animal experiments. Animal experiments are a compromise between modelling real world phenomena with maximal validity (complexity) and designing practicable research projects (abstraction). Textbooks on laboratory animal science generally favour abstraction over complexity. Depending on the area of research, however, abstraction can seriously compromise information gain, with respect to the real world phenomena an experiment is designed to model. Behavioral phenotyping of mouse mutants often deals with particularly complex manifestations of life, such as learning, memory or anxiety, that are strongly modulated by environmental factors. A growing body of evidence indicates that current approaches to behavioral phenotyping might often produce results that are idiosyncratic to the study in which they were obtained, because the interactive nature of genotype-environment relationships underlying behavioral phenotypes was not taken into account. This paper argues that systematic variation of genetic and environmental backgrounds, instead of excessive standardization, is needed to control the robustness of the results and to detect biologically relevant interactions between the mutation and the genetic and environmental background of the animals.     

Population dynamics of the Late Devonian conodont Alternognathus calibrated in days

Abstract

Alternognathus is a cavusgnathid conodont believed to be a relative and possible ancestor of the Siphonodella lineage, which is of crucial importance to the biostratigraphy of the Devonian–Carboniferous transition, as well as the Early Carboniferous Clydagnathus, with the most completely known soft tissue anatomy among conodonts. Specimens of Alternognathus from the Kowala quarry in central Poland have their basal cavities lacking any mineralised basal body tissue, exposing rhythmic growth increments of probably daily nature. This enables calibration of ontogeny and population dynamics of Alternognathus in absolute time units and to estimate the correspondence between data derived from isolated oral apparatus elements and the animal body size. The peak of mortality, probably resulting from predation, occurred at 18–28 days of the Alternognathus oral apparatus element secretion and the inferred whole animal length of about 1.6–2.9 cm. Based on analogy with present-day fish, the actual beginning of individual life presumably preceded the initiation of the mineral tissue secretion for about 8 days. This makes the dominant life cycle close to the lunar month length and suggests analogy to cyclic mortality of modern tropical organisms due to full moon light influence on their daily vertical migration.     

THE INFLUENCE OF ELECTROLYTES ON POLLEN TUBE DEVELOPMENT

These experiments serve to show that neutral salts in amounts considerably below those commonly employed in culture solutions may be very injurious to pollen. It has been found, for example, that NaCl, one of the least toxic salts tried, excepting CaCl₂, added to a sucrose solution in a concentration of 0.0002 M, or about 11 parts per million, reduces the growth of sweet pea pollen tubes 15 per cent. When it is considered that MgCl₂ and BaCl₂ are about fifteen times as toxic as NaCl it becomes evident that the susceptibility of pollen tubes to injury by these substances amounts virtually to hypersensitiveness. On the other hand calcium salts in concentrations ranging from 0.02 to 0.002 M markedly enhance the growth of sweet pea pollen tubes. MgCl₂ has a similar action in the case of Nicotiana. Calcium, moreover, exerts a strong protective action in the presence of the injurious monovalent cations Na and K. So far as can be determined by microchemical means these salts do not alter the wall of the pollen tube; presumably, their effect is on the protoplast itself. In the light of recent experimentation (Osterhout) with other forms better adapted to precise investigation of these phenomena it seems probable that the explanation of the facts presented here lies in changes brought about in the permeability of the cells. Since several gaps exist in our evidence, however, conclusions drawn at this time must necessarily be provisional. The highly injurious action manifested by the cations of several of the salts used indicates that they penetrate the protoplast very rapidly. Possibly in pure sucrose cultures, exosmosis is a limiting factor in pollen tube growth. The addition of salts of calcium or magnesium may favor development by retarding or preventing this outward diffusion. The protective effect of calcium in the presence of the toxic cations K and Na is best interpreted on the assumption that the entry of these latter into the protoplast is retarded by the calcium. The mode by which hydrogen ion concentration affects pollen tube growth is largely a matter of speculation. It has previously been been shown by Brink that the time relations of the growth process simulate those of an autocatalytic reaction. It has been demonstrated also that elongation of the tubes in artificial media is related to the digestion of the reserve food materials contributed by the pollen grain. In the case of the sweet pea these stored substances are largely fats and their hydrolysis may constitute the most important chemical reaction in growth. If, as seems not improbable, the other reactions involved wait upon this one, it is the "master reaction" according to Robertson''s hypothesis. If this conception really applies to the case in hand as outlined, the effect of the concentration of hydrogen ions on growth may be a direct one. It is known that the action of the fat-splitting enzyme lipase is favored by a certain amount of free acid. The maximum rate of germination of the pollen and the greatest amount of growth of the pollen tubes occur at pH 6.0. This may be due in large part to the immediate effect of this concentration of hydrogen ions upon the digestion of the reserve food.     

THE EFFECT OF ULTRA-VIOLET,X-RAY,AND RADIUM RADIATION ON THE TOXICITY OF NORMAL BLOOD

While the number of experiments performed is perhaps somewhat limited the results obtained were quite definite and warrant the following conclusions. The toxicity of normal blood for living plant protoplasm as studied on the growth of Lupinus albus seedlings is definitely influenced by various radiations. Ultra-violet rays produce no effect on normal blood or may even render it slightly less toxic. Roentgen rays render normal blood more toxic. The toxicity is greater in the case of the blood plasma as compared with the blood cells and a more toxic effect is produced with the Coolidge tube as compared with the gas tube. Radium emanations in the few experiments performed produced changes very much the same as those given by the x-rays.     

Experimental study of oxidative DNA damage

Animal experiments allow the study of oxidative DNA damage in target organs and the elucidation of dose-response relationships of carcinogenic and other harmful chemicals and conditions as well as the study of interactions of several factors. So far the effects of more than 50 different chemical compounds have been studied in animal experiments mainly in rats and mice, and generally with measurement of 8-oxodG with HPLC-EC. A large number of well-known carcinogens induce 8-oxodG formation in liver and/or kidneys. Moreover several animal studies have shown a close relationship between induction of dative DNA damage and tumour formation.

In principle the level of oxidative DNA damage in an organ or cell may be studied by measurement of modified bases in extracted DNA by immunohistochemical visualisation, and from assays of strand breakage before and after treatment with repair enzymes. However, this level is a balance between the rates of damage and repair. Until the repair rates and capacity can be adequately assessed the rate of damage can only be estimated from the urinary excretion of repair products albeit only as an average of the entire body.

A number of model compounds have been used to induce oxidative DNA damage in experimental animals. The hepatocarcinogen 2-nitropropane induces up to 10-fold increases in 8-oxodG levels in rat liver DNA. The level of 8-oxodG is also increased in kidneys and bone marrow but not in the testis. By means of 2-nitropropane we have shown correspondence between the increases in 8-oxodG in target organs and the urinary excretion of 8-oxodG and between 8-oxodG formation and the comet assay in bone marrow as well potent preventive effects of extracts of Brussels sprouts. Others have shown similar effects of green tea extracts and its components. Drawbacks of the use of 2-nitropropane as a model for oxidative DNA damage relate particularly to formation of 8-aminoguanine derivatives that may interfere with HPLC-EC assays and have unknown consequences. Other model compounds for induction of oxidative DNA damage, such as ferric nitriloacetate, iron dextran, potassium bromate and paraquat, are less potent and/or more organ specific.

Inflammation and activation of an inflammatory response by phorbol esters or E. coli lipopolysaccharide (LPS) induce oxidative DNA damage in many target cells and enhance benzene-induced DNA damage in mouse bone marrow.

Experimental studies provide powerful tools to investigate agents inducing and preventing oxidative damage to DNA and its role in carcinogenesis. So far, most animal experiments have concerned 8-oxodG and determination of additional damaged bases should be employed. An ideal animal model for prevention of oxidative DNA damage has yet to he developed.     

Wheel-running activity: a new interpretation

The wheel-running activity of caged mammals has been misinterpreted for many years as a measure of 'general activity'. A review of the literature and recent experimental evidence suggests that this behaviour has a far more specific function for the animal, and that its major and invaluable experimental use lies as both a field and laboratory tool for the studies of particular forms of migration. This new interpretation allows a greater understanding of the motivations underlying this widely-monitored behaviour.

Summary

It is apparent that the nature of the response to an activity-wheel has been greatly misunderstood for many years. The behaviour appears to be far more specific than previously thought, reflecting a type of inherent response which is not evident when activity is recorded by other methods. This report indicates that the wheel is used by a caged animal when the individual is motivated to reach an unattainable resource. This results in an urge to travel, either to remove itself from the immediate area, or to search for specific resources. It is proposed that when the goal is perceptually not present, the activity wheel is a specific monitor of 'exploratory migration', and reflects the urge to collect information about the location of resources. It implies, therefore, that the use of the activity-wheel as a simple measure of 'general activity' should cease; the major future uses of this particular activity recording device should be in the studies of the daily, ontogenetic and seasonal variation in the incidence of exploratory migration, and the influence upon it of other environ- mental factors, as well as a method of investigating goal-orientation, both in the field and the laboratory. This new interpretation provides a more precise explanation of what is being measured in wheel-running experiments, and should result in a more specific use of wheel-activity in experimentation.     

竹红菌光敏作用的初步探讨*

用纸片法作为筛选光敏物质及光敏作用的研究方法。结果证实了(1)竹红菌Hypo crella bambusae中含有对革兰氏阳性细菌具光敏活性的成分;(2)从中筛选到一种红色的光敏色素,属苝醌的一个新的衍生物,取名竹红菌甲素(Hypocrellin A简称“甲素”);(3)揭示了“甲素”是对可见光敏感、作用光谱较宽的光动力学(photodynamic)物质。从化合物的类型、光敏特性、治疗方法、治疗对象及其效果看,可以认为甲素是一新型的光化学疗法药物。     

竹红菌光敏作用的初步探讨

用纸片法作为筛选光敏物质及光敏作用的研究方法。结果证实了(1)竹红菌Hypo crella bambusae中含有对革兰氏阳性细菌具光敏活性的成分;(2)从中筛选到一种红色的光敏色素,属苝醌的一个新的衍生物,取名竹红菌甲素(Hypocrellin A简称“甲素”);(3)揭示了“甲素”是对可见光敏感、作用光谱较宽的光动力学(photodynamic)物质。从化合物的类型、光敏特性、治疗方法、治疗对象及其效果看,可以认为甲素是一新型的光化学疗法药物。     

Conspicuous visual signals do not coevolve with increased body size in marine sea slugs

Many taxa use conspicuous colouration to attract mates, signal chemical defences (aposematism) or for thermoregulation. Conspicuousness is a key feature of aposematic signals, and experimental evidence suggests that predators avoid conspicuous prey more readily when they exhibit larger body size and/or pattern elements. Aposematic prey species may therefore evolve a larger body size due to predatory selection pressures, or alternatively, larger prey species may be more likely to evolve aposematic colouration. Therefore, a positive correlation between conspicuousness and body size should exist. Here, we investigated whether there was a phylogenetic correlation between the conspicuousness of animal patterns and body size using an intriguing, understudied model system to examine questions on the evolution of animal signals, namely nudibranchs (opisthobranch molluscs). We also used new ways to compare animal patterns quantitatively with their background habitat in terms of intensity variance and spatial frequency power spectra. In studies of aposematism, conspicuousness is usually quantified using the spectral contrast of animal colour patches against its background; however, other components of visual signals, such as pattern, luminance and spectral sensitivities of potential observers, are largely ignored. Contrary to our prediction, we found that the conspicuousness of body patterns in over 70 nudibranch species decreased as body size increased, indicating that crypsis was not limited to a smaller body size. Therefore, alternative selective pressures on body size and development of colour patterns, other than those inflicted by visual hunting predators, may act more strongly on the evolution of aposematism in nudibranch molluscs.     

ON THE MECHANISM OF MILK SECRETION : THE INFLUENCE OF INSULIN AND PHLORIDZIN

The four types of experiments on milk secretion herein described really fall into one general class so far as the physiological effects produced are concerned. Starvation lowers the blood sugar and raises the osmotic pressure of the blood. The experiment using parathyroid hormone with or without starvation may have its effects interpreted as simply due to starvation since 1000 units of this hormone produced no visible effects on the blood calcium or milk constituents different from those of starvation. Since insulin produces a marked and rapid drop in blood sugar it too may be looked upon as a rapid starvation effect. It has some other important effects, however. Briggs et al. (21) have shown that potassium and phosphorus of the blood are decreased and Luck, Morrison, and Wilbur (22) indicate a reduction in the amino acids of the blood in insulin treatment. Phloridzin lowers the threshold for sugar retention with the consequence that in time it tends to lower the sugar of the blood to an even greater extent than that noted in starvation. It tends to depress the potassium, to increase the phosphorus content of the blood, and to cause the body to burn protein rather than carbohydrate, thus increasing nitrogen excretion. All of the experiments are characterized by a sharp reduction in the milk yield. Cary and Meigs (23) have studied like reductions in milk yield produced by varying the energy or protein of the diet. They conclude that such decrease in milk production may be interpreted as due to the direct effect of the starvation and the consequent reduction of the energy and protein available to milk secretion. The reduction in milk yield for the experiments herein described can undoubtedly be attributed to the same causes as those cited by Cary and Meigs. The experiment where Cow 47 was given a full ration and at the same time injected with large quantities of insulin is of particular interest in this connection. The ration was adequate and the cow ate well, yet her production declined to a fifth of her normal milk yield. Her chart shows that there was a slight reduction in her blood sugar when insulin was introduced into the blood stream. It seems furthermore likely that this sugar was not as available to milk secretion, since there appears to be more than a corresponding drop in the lactose content of the milk. The work of Luck et al. would seem to indicate that there should be a like drop in the amino acids of the blood. These two conditions would lead, according to the work of Cary and Meigs, to a reduction in the concentration of the nitrogen of the milk. Actually, in the experiment as it was performed, the nitrogen increased to a value about 40 per cent above normal. A somewhat similar conflict is noted in two of the other three insulin experiments where starvation accompanied insulin injection. To this extent it would seem that the factor deserving most emphasis in its immediate effect on milk yield is the energy available, and that the later and more secondary factor is the amino acid concentration of the blood. In the starvation experiments, the butter fat percentage of the milk rises rather uniformly with the duration of starvation. In the insulin experiments, however, the charts appear to show a marked reduction in this butter fat percentage immediately after the introduction of insulin. This is particularly noticed after the second and third injections. Since the dextrose of the blood tends to be reduced and made unavailable to the general physiological processes by the presence of the large excess of insulin, and since this reduction of the butter fat percentage is noted as an accompanying phenomenon, it would appear that the blood dextrose plays a part in the synthesis of milk fat as well as being the source of the milk lactose, possibly as a source of energy in converting body fat to butter fat. In this regard the results for the treatment of Cow 47 with phloridzin are of importance. As noted by others, the introduction of phloridzin causes a marked rise in the fat percentage of the milk. The lactose per cent is also higher than that noted in starvation. Since phloridzin, by lowering the threshold for the blood sugar, causes large quantities of it to be drained from the body through the urine, and therefore reduces the reserve supply, it follows that if the insulin hypotheses are correct we should expect an eventual lowering of the lactose and of the fat below the starvation level. During the last of the experiment this is what was actually observed. The effects of starvation and of insulin furnish concordant proof for the theory that the lactose of milk is derived from the sugar of the blood. The fact that the different constituents of the milk, the fat, the lactose, the nitrogen, and the ash, do not exactly parallel each other in their behavior throughout these experiments indicates that they have in all probability separate origin. This is particularly true of the butter fat percentage, which appears to have a rate of secretion which is more or less independent of the other constituents, and higher in amount. This result would fall in line with the conclusion of the writers in a previous paper in which it was indicated that the fat of the blood was very likely deposited in the udder as fat corresponding to body fat from which source it was metabolized into the fat of milk shortly before it was needed for milk secretion. The wide variation brought about in the constituents of the milk by the treatment all point to the conclusion that in milk secretion a balance is maintained between the osmotic pressure of the milk and of the blood. Thus when the sugar of the milk is reduced either through starvation or by insulin the ash constituents rise to compensate for this reduction and make the osmotic pressure of the milk similar to that of the blood. These results further appear to indicate that the salts and the sugars are more or less independent in their passage and metabolism into milk from the other constituents. These observations are therefore in line with those obtained by Jackson and Rothera (14) and by Davidson (15) in their brilliant experiments where they modified milk secretion by returning milk or milk sugars and salts to the udder. These experiments give direct proof for the conclusion that modifications of the blood of dairy cattle produce direct and predictable modification of the milk secreted.