THE ACTION OF SALINE PURGATIVES AND DIURETICS.

Following his report¹ of last year on the action of certain saline purgatives, J. B. MacCallum has recently carried out some further researches² on these substances, and also on certain saline diuretics. It will be remembered that in his former communication MacCallum brought out several facts which greatly altered our conception of the action of saline purges. He showed that such purgatives act, not only when introduced through the intestinal tract, but also when introduced through the skin. He further pointed out that the purgative action of the salts was partly due to increased peristalsis and partly to the increased secretion of fluid into the intestine, both of which processes he observed directly. He compared the action of these salts on the intestine to their action in producing nervous hypersensitiveness and muscular twitching in voluntary muscles, phenomena which Loeb's work has made well known. He likewise showed that