Abstract
Three rabbits were shown, one normal and two nephrectomized. The nephrectomy was performed nine hours before the demonstration. One nephrectomized animal received by mouth, soon after the nephrectomy, magnesium sulphate (6 grams per kilo in a 25 per cent, solution). The normal animal received by mouth 7 grams per kilo of the same salt. The other nephrectomized rabbit received no magnesium sulphate. At the time of the demonstration the nephrectomized rabbit which had received the salts was under profound anesthesia with complete muscular relaxation, while the other two animals were in an apparently normal state. This shows that in nephrectomized rabbits magnesium salts produce a profound general effect even when given by mouth, and that the absence of such an effect in the usual administration of the salts is due to the comparatively prompt elimination through the kidneys of a large part of the absorbed salts, thus preventing at any given time the accumulation within the organism of a quantity equal to a toxic dose.
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