Whether or not the saline purgatives also inhibit the absorption of fluid from the intestine cannot be stated with certainty. The experiments of Wallace and Cushny leave out of account the increased secretion of fluid into the intestine caused by the purgative, a process which undoubtedly takes place. Thus in comparing the amount of NaCl, and the amount of a saline purgative absorbed in a given time from separate loops under the same conditions, it is not surprising that the amount of NaCl solution found in the loop after the experiment is less than the amount of purgative solution left. If the quantities of the two salts were equal in the beginning and an equal amount were absorbed, there would still be more fluid left in the loop containing the purgative on account of the secretion of fluid into the loop which was caused by the purgative, and not by the NaCl. With regard to the mode in which the salt must be administered it is quite clear that it is not necessary to place it in the stomach or the lumen of the intestine. As shown above, the action is more rapid and more powerful when the solution is injected into the blood, or applied locally to the peritoneal surface of the intestine. Nor is the action due to its being secreted again into the lumen of the intestine, because the action is almost immediate when the solution is poured on the outside of the loops, and only takes place after several minutes when placed in the lumen. If injected into the blood the action is slower than when the solution is applied to the serous surfaces of the intestine. In the former case every opportunity would be afforded for its rapid excretion into the intestine if that were a factor. It is evident that the solution must be absorbed into the blood and bathe the tissues just as a solution surrounds a muscle which is immersed in it. As to the tissues in the intestine which are primarily affected, it is impossible to make a definite statement. The muscle and glands cannot be at all separated from the complex nervous mechanism of the intestine, and it is necessary to take the whole as an organ made up of many tissues and affected in definite ways by certain solutions.