Document 3eqnk5qKv176XJ0vdzpjy0kNE

May 7 , 1932 M r. K. W. G ilm o re Humble o i l Company H ouston, Texas My d e a r M r. G ilm o re : I have d elay ed somewhat in r e p ly in g to your l e t t e r In w hich you en clo sed a b r ie f of the case. ` A fter having gone over th e m a tte r, i t seem s q u i t e c l e a r t o ms t h a t fro m a m e d ic a l p o i n t o f view th e case has no m erit* N e v e rth e le ss I reco g n iz e th a t such c a se s a re n o t alw ays s e t t l e d on t h e i r m erit. Such te stim o n y a s X would be d i s posed to p re s e n t would be b a sed on c e r ta in p rim ary co n sid eratio n s. 1* The d i a g n o s i s o f a c u t e n e p h r i t i s was an e n t i r e l y ju s t if i a b le d ia g n o s is . The type o f n e p h r itis p re s e n t was in no way c h a r a c t e r i s t i c o f the k id n ey c o n d itin s w hich a re o c c a sio n a lly seen in a s s o c ia tio n w ith lo ad i n t o x i c a t i o n . I n a d d i t i o n t o t h e e v id e n c e o f t h e i r _____ p h y s i c i a n s , my a s s i s t a n t H r . B e h ra d ln saw Mr. d i s p u s s d t h e c a s e with h i s pby 3 i c i a n s a n ^ ^ " e s ta b lis h e d th e fo llo w in g p o in ts w hich are o f im p o rtan ce. O nset began w ith headache and abdom inal cram ps, sw ellin g o f th e f e e t and s h o rtn e s s o f b r e a th . Very e a r ly in th e co u rse o f h is i l l n e s s , h is u rin e was d is c o lo re d , o f a b r i c k d u s t c o l r . He h a d f e v e r a n d h e d e s c r i b e d a s o r e t h r o a t a day o r two p re v io u s to th e o n s e t. (Im m ed iately a f t e r h a v in g made t h i s s ta te m e n t, h e r e t r a c t e d I t and ad m itted on q u e stio n in g th a t he had had so re th r o a t.) F u rth erm o re, H r. Tticker s ta te d th a t he had had tro u b le w ith h is th ro a t fo r y e a rs and had ad v ised a to n sllecto m y r e p e a t e d l y . I t t h u s seem s q u i t c l e a r t o me t h a t ; t h i s was a case o f a c u te In fe c tio u s n e p h r itis . Thus one need n o t look fo r any unusual. clrcU m tance as th e background for th is illn e ss. '::Wt v sms n o t o f th e ty p e w hich i s a s s o c ia te d w ith s i g n i f i can t lead exposure. There i s a hugh background o f e x p e rim e n ta l e v id e n c e to show t h a t th e h a n d lin g o f E thyl g aso lin e does not b rin g about an appreciable ab so rp tio n o f lead through the sk in . Furtherm ore, in the course o f d i s t illa tio n of the type H r, C astle bery c a rrie d o u t, th e re is no occasion w hatever fo r th e in h a la tio n o f lead * The d i s t i l l a t e i s c u a n titlv e ly re c la im e d so th a t even very sm a ll amounts o f lo ite r b o ilin g p o in t petroleum products are l o s t . T h erefo re, i t is obvious th a t no m easuroable q u a n tity o f h igh b o ilin g p o in t T etradsthy1 lead escapes in to the a ir . The background o f experim ent and e x p e rie n c e h e re is ?o good and so com plete t h a t I have n o t reg a rd ed i t as necessary to see to i t th a t d is tilla tio n s o f th is type are c a rrie d out in a hood. The s p e c i f i c in s ta n c e o f e x p o su re w hich h as been s tre s s e d a p p a re n tly , has to do w ith a f i r e w ith- w hich some E th y l g a s o lin e b u rn ed in th o l a b o r a to r y . Under th ese circum stances any T etra-E th y l lead p resen t in th o g a s o lin e was bu rn ed away in th e same g e n e ra l m anner as I t would have been b urned in a m o to r, p ro d u cin g a c e r ta in amount o f f in e ly divided!1le a d in th e form o f le a d brom ide and le a d o x id e , Prom th o amount o f g a s o lin e a c tu a lly b u rn ed , one could r e a d ily compute th e amount o f such le a d compounds w hich were form ed, undoubtedly th e a m o u 'ts w ere o f no consequence b u t when one c o n s id e rs th e f a c t th a t such le a d compounds a re d isc h arg e d ' in the ex h au st gases of autom obiles w ith o u t in ju ry and w ith o u t m eao u reab le le a d a b s o r p tio n on th e p a r t o f p e rs o n s who a rc w orking w ith m o to rs, th is exposure d e scrib e d ' fo r Mr* C a s t l e b e r r y becom es q u i t e i n s i g n i f i c a n t * The d ia g n o sis o f load p o iso n in g and le a d a b so rp tio n can be made o n ly on th e b a s is o f th e e s ta b lis h m e n t o f th e e x isten ce of s ig n ific a n t exposure as w ell as c h a r a c t e r i s t i c symptoms and s ig n s* In t h i s i n s t n c e , i t i s q u ite c l e a r t h a t n e i t h e r o f th o s e two n e c e s s a ry elem ents are p re se n t as a basis; fo r d ia g n o s is , That i s to say , th e re i s no evidence; o f h is h aving had s ig n if ic a n t exposure to lead and th e re is no evidence t h a t h e had any c p a r a c te r iis tic symptoiss o r s ig n s o f l e a d i n t o x i c a t i o n . On t h e ofchbr h a n d , h e d i d h a v e a h e p h r itis o f a n o t u n u su al type w hich i s s u f f ic ie n t i n i t s e l f t o e x p l a i n on o r a l l o f h i s sym ptom s and h is ev en tu al death* v -i 2 * I -do n o t b e l i e v e t h a t t h e r e s h o u ld b e a n y g r e a t d iffic u lty In e sta b lish in g the soundness of th is p o sitio n , from b o th c l i n i c a l and e x p e rim e n ta l p o in t o f view* th e cas i s & v e ry c le a n c u t one* I s h a ll be p re p a re d to t e s t i f y a s I h a v e i n d i c a t e d a s t o my o p i n io n an d I s h o u ld b e a b le to s u p p o r t my o p in io n v ?lth s a t i s f a c t o r y c l i n i c a l e v id e n c e and a l a r g e am ount o f e x p e r i m e n t a l i n f o r m a t i o n ... w hich ia a v a ila b le in m edical lite r a tu r e * ; Very tru ly y o u rs. *PA> :IS