This salt is soluble in water in the proportion of four per cent. Hence it may be given in solution, and will readily diffuse through into the blood. In the dose of one ounce it acts as a laxative. As it has a saline taste similar to common salt, it may be given in soup or other food. It increases the alkalinity of the blood, according to Bocker, by causing a retention of the chloride of sodium. Phosphate of soda diminishes the excretion of urea, in part, it is supposed, by hindering the retrograde metamorphosis of tissue, in part by its interference with the process of digestion. It is a constituent of the blood in the normal state, and as it possesses the remarkable property of increasing the quantity of carbonic acid which can be held in solution by any liquid, obviously we have in these facts an explanation of its influence over the excretion of urea. That it impairs digestion in large doses when administered in health may be admitted, but by removing morbid states of the mucous membrane the digestive function, in suitable cases, is directly promoted by its use, and the nutrition of the body generally, and the tone of the nervous system, improved.