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The heat capacities, Cp, of the alkali metal nitrates, MNO3 (M= Li, Na, K, Rb, and Cs), in the solid and liquid states have been measured between 50 and 450 °C by means of adiabatic calorimetry. We have measured with a fair degree of accuracy the Cp values for the MNO3 systems, because the existing data on NaNO3 and KNO3 above 250 °C are quite scanty. Some empirical rules, some of which may extend to other salts, have been obtained from the results on Cp for the five alkali nitrates in the solid and liquid states. For the molten MNO3, the heat capacities at a constant volume, CV, were obtained from the thermodynamical relationship between CV and Cp, using the experimental values of Cp; the CV values have been interpreted in terms of the interionic and intraionic portions.

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Hypergalactosaemia was discovered in a newborn girl during routine metabolic screening. Hereditary enzyme deficiency was ruled out. She had multiple hepatic haemangiomas with portal-hepatic venous and hepatic arterio-venous shunts. Since she showed signs of high-output heart failure due to the arterio-venous shunt, hepatic artery embolization was performed at age 3 months. A galactose tolerance test was performed before and after embolization and when the haemangioma no longer appeared on ultrasonography. Even after embolization, the level of blood galactose was abnormally elevated in the galactose tolerance test, but the blood galactose was eliminated more rapidly than before embolization. When the hepatic haemangioma was no longer detected by ultrasonography, the peak galactose level decreased. We surmise that the hypergalactosaemia was due to these shunts. In cases of hypergalactosaemia of unknown cause; liver haemangioma with portal-hepatic venous shunting should be considered as a possible cause. If a hepatic arterio-venous shunt also exists, this may contribute to the effect of the portosystemic shunting.

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