Los Angeles herald., 1907-06-16


ment:
"The rubber stopper acts like
| the membrane in the lungs. The
accumulation of oxygen in the pas
sages of our lungs and the carbon di-
| oxide in the arteries interchange,
through the separating membrane.
The one-hole stopper does not allow
such action to take place. The only
exchange Of gases being by convection
currents. in the case of a hole one
eighth of an inch in diameter, is very
small. In the case of an open flask
| larger convection currents are set up
and so great is the supply of air that
the mouse can live indefinitely.
Conclusions Are Positive
To determine whether or not the loss
of weight at death was due to moisture
a series of twelve important expert
ments were made from which Prof.
Twining arrived at accurate and posi-
tive conclusions.
In the first of these experiments a
glass retort. like the one used in the
previous experiments, was sealed with a
two-hole rubber stopper after the bot
tom was covered with calcium chloride,
and the mouse placed inside. Calcium
chloride has the remarkable property of
collecting moisture out of any air
passed through, it, this fact being the
reason for it's use in the experiment
The apparatus being thus set up, two
glass tubes with small receiving cup
on the end of each, were put through
the holes in the rubber stopper, down
through the retort and into the cal
cium chloride, making it necessary for
all air 20 enter the retort or leave it
through the calcium chloride. The
cork and all seams were then coated
with paraffine wax to make them alb
solutely air tight. No poison was used
to kill the mouse, which died in short
time after the retort had been care
fully balanced on the scales. Upon dy-
ing a loss in weight of four-tenths of
milligTam was noted.
Still Another Test
Not being satisfied with the results
test similar to the last was made
with apparatus consisting of a
retort containing calcium chloride,
sealed with one-hole rubber stop
per, dipped in paraffine, through
which was inserted glass tube
with a receiving cup on one end.
This cup was filled with calcium
chloride also. No poison was used and
no loss of weight at the point of death
was noticed.
The above test was repeated with the
exception that small lump of
cyanide of potassium was used to ex-
terminate the mouse. No loss of
weight was recorded.
A third test was made in which an
especially prepared cork was used in
place of the glass tube inserted
through cork. This cork was cut
out in the center and wire gauze placed
across the opening. Calcium chloride
was placed in the upper compartment.
p0ta ci 0xyo mi 10 ryoc 70 Ir;II I,a
mouse. Upon dying loss of five and
two-tenths milligrams was discovered,
Theory Proved Many Times
These three tests partly indicated
that the loss was due to moisture. They
were repeated again and again under
slightly different conditions until it
became very apparent that there was
no loss when the conditions were such
that sufficient calcium chloride was
used to hold all moisture that might
be given up.
A test was then made in an open
flask in which the mouse was killed
by chloroform. In this case no loss of
weight occurred as the mouse died.
A test in which mouse was placed
in an open flask half full of water, and
killed by potassium cyanide, showed no
sudden loss.
The next important experiment was
made to determine the amount of air
in the lungs of a mouse. The
retort was filled with water, all
air thus being excluded. A mouse was
thrust in and the whole Immediately
corked with one-hole rubber stopper
in which was inserted a graduated test
tube, graduated to a tenth of cubic
centimeter. This tube wa. also filled
with water, to exclude all air. The
mouse drowned very quickly and the
air expelled from the lungs raised in
the test tube, three-tenths of cubic
centimeter being collected. Since one
cubic centimeter of air weighs about
one and two tenths milligrams at 20
degrees centigrade Ordinary temper
ature), the amount of air collected in
the test tube represented a total loss
of about thirty-six h1ndredths milli-
grams, or thirty-six- -hundredths of a
milligram out of the four and five mil
ligrams of weight lost in the expert
ments in which the mouse was killed
by poison in an open flask.
Prof. Twining's Conclusions
Following is Prof Twining's summing
up of the result of his experiments:
1. From the fact that no loss takes
place in a Theoretically sealed tube 1t
is to be inferred that the loss under
OlilCI ID QuC "
nary coarse matter.
2. Since only .36 milligrams of air
is expelled when a mouse browns, and
since this expelled air is displaced by
water, the loss at death due to ex-
PEELED air is very small. Besides, when
a mouse dies from causes other than
drowning the air is not expelled from
the lungs. Water does not enter the
lungs of a drowned animal, but the
stomach, and expelled air comes from
the stomach and oesophagus. Hence
the loss of weight In an animal at
death is not due to air.
3. Since a mouse does not lose weight
in a flask having a one-hole rubber
stopper when it Is not killed by cyan
ide of potassium, since it does not lose
weight when killed with chloroform.
and since it does lose weight when
poisoned by cyanide, it is evident that
this loss is caused by the action of the
poison on the system.
4. Since a mouse does not lose weight
when killed in water by poison in an
open retort and since 1t does not lose