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Fifty-six horses with colic were examined over a period of three months. The concentrations of glucose, lactate, sodium, potassium and chloride, and the pH of samples of blood and peritoneal fluid, were determined with a portable clinical analyser and with an in-house analyser and the results were compared. Compared with the in-house analyser, the portable analyser gave higher pH values for blood and peritoneal fluid with greater variability in the alkaline range, and lower pH values in the acidic range, lower concentrations of glucose in the range below 8.3 mmol/l, and lower concentrations of lactate in venous blood in the range below 5 mmol/l and in peritoneal fluid in the range below 2 mmol/l, with less variability. On average, the portable analyser underestimated the concentrations of lactate and glucose in peritoneal fluid in comparison with the in-house analyser. Its measurements of the concentrations of sodium and chloride in peritoneal fluid had a higher bias and were more variable than the measurements in venous blood, and its measurements of potassium in venous blood and peritoneal fluid had a smaller bias and less variability than the measurements made with the in-house analyser.

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Measurements have been made of the concentration of protein in the spinal fluid3 in myxedema, before and after the administration of thyroid extract. These measurements are summarized in table 1. They show two things:1. In most of the cases, the protein concentration was high during the period of myxedema.2. In all but two cases, a well marked drop in the concentration occurred as the basal metabolism approached normal ( fig. 1), following the administration of thyroid extract. In the two that showed no decrease, the protein content was normal to begin with.It may be seen from table 1 and figure 1 that there were marked variations in the concentration from patient to patient, during the period of myxedema. These variations bore no relation either to the severity of the disease or to the degree of depression of the basal metabolism. There were also definite but less marked differences in the levels to which thyroid feeding depressed the protein content.These levels, in all but the first two patients, were within normal.limits (20 to 45 mgm. per 100 cc.).The change in protein concentration occurs gradually and may not be complete until some time after the basal metabolism has reached a

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