Document YDjwZDR44dROMKdpkO6E8DQDD
FILE NAME State of the Art Literature SAL DATE 1953 July
DOC SAL056 DOCUMENT DESCRIPTION Journal Article - The Prevention of the Dust Diseases
THE LANCET
ORIGINAL ARTICLES
JULY 11 1953
THE
PREVENTION OF THE DUST
~"
DISEASES
In 1912 an excellent translation of this book was made by
Herbert Hoover a mining engineer and his wife This was the same Herbert Hoover who later became President
A. L. G. McLaughlin
M.D. Sydney F.R.C.P.
E.M. MEDICAL INSPECTOR OF FACTORIES
Sir Malcolm Morris who was on the staff of St. Mary's
Hospital for over 20 years was a pioneer in public health as well as being a great dermatologist In the galaxy of great names for which the hospital is notable he holda high place and his contributions both to dermatology and publio health are of enduring value It is common knowledge that dermatitis causes more cases of ill bealth and lost time in industry than any of the other
diseases of occupation But it can be said that the diseases of the lungs caused by dust are more dangerous than the industrial dermatoses The pneumoconioses
often cause death whereas skin lesions though they are disabling are rarely fatal Again the lung diseases caused by dust are harder to diagnose and in the early stages at least they give no outward sign of the pathological process going on inside the chest A disease of the skin has this advantage that it can be seen even by the novice as soon as it appears But the pneumoconioses come on like a thief in the night or rather like a thief who plies his trade for days nights and years before he is finally caught And by that time the damage is done It is like closing the stable door after the horse stolen In trying to prevent the dust diseases we aim to close the door while the horse is still in the stable
or while the man is still in good health An in td his
discourse I shall describe some of the ways in which we are trying to close the door
of the United States But the outstanding name among the early doctors
was Bernardino Ramazzini an Italian who in 1700
published the first textbook De Morbis Artificum on
occupational diseases based on hand observations of varied occupations and the maladies which arise from
them Ramazzini in justly called the father of occupa tional medicine and it was he who taught that when seeing a patient for the first time one should not only ask him where his pain is but what his job is Even today there are doctors who do not get details of their patients occupations Ramazzini quotes the account of the necropsies carried out in 1649 by Diemerbroeck on atonecutters in whose lungs he found such heaps of sand
vesicles that in running the knife through the pulmonary
he thought he was outting some sandy body This is the first account of the pathology of silicosis as it is now called In spite of this the earlier doctors confused the dust fibroses of the lungs with tuberculosis But we have
to bear in mind that the tubercle bacillus was not dia
covered until 1882 and that the study of pathology was
century not put on a firm basis until the early part of the 19th
. As a point of historical intereat it might be added that Sir Malcolm Morris was present at the
first demonstration of the tubercle bacillus in Koch's
laboratory in Berlin in 1882 Lancet 1924
The 19th century was notable for the rise of the idea
that inhalation of large quantities of dust of any kind
can damage the lungs but that some dusts are more harmful than others It was our first great English writer
on the occupational diseases who emphasised this He
was Charles Turner Thackrah a doctor in Leeds who in
*
Historical
1831 published his book on the Effects of Arts Trades and
Professions The title goes on and of civio states and
Before dealing with the prevention of the pneumo-
conioses I ought to say something about them For
in order to prevent a disease it is obvious that one must
first know that it exists and the causes of it
To us in the 20th century it may seem strange that at
any time it was not known that dust when inhaled into
habits of living on health and longevity with suggestions
for the removal of many of the agents which produce
and disease shorten the duration of life He noted that
bricklayers and limeworkers were lived and that sandstone masons usually died before they reached the
age of 40. But he was not quite clear in his mind how
the lungs could damage them But it took a long time before this fact was established and though the history of the pneumoconioses goes back as far as Hippocrates about 400 B.C. and perhaps earlier they were not
Ramazzini's motto was Medici munus plebeios curantis
est interrogare quaa artes exerceant
TABLE DUST DISEASES OF THE LUNGS
charted with accuracy until about 30 years ago Even
) Roundwaf
6 radiologist 1. Manchest pathologist : anesthetist
Hospital Hospital
ural surgeon
now there is a great deal to be learned about them Progress in knowledge is usually associated with great
namea but one should not forget those workers who
inade no great splash in history The building of
knowledge has been likened to a coral island into the
formation of which go the lives of many individual
- organisms So it is with our knowledge of the occupational . One of the great names in occupational medicine
after Hippocrates was Paracelsus also called Bombast
He in 1530 published a book on industrial diseases in
which he described the chronic lung diseases of miners as
pulmonary consumption and asthma He thought that
these diseases were due mainly to the influence of the
antral bodies but he added that the climate of the
mines might have something to do with them I daresay
that in writing about the climate he included dust as one
of the possible causes but he did not say so The next
great name was Georgius Agricola who in a book called
De Re Metallica 1558 said that the inhalation of
corrosive dusts
a worker to a disease
predisposed characterised by exhaustion coughing and that
difficulty of breathing which the Greeks called asthma
Diseasca
Dust or fume
1. Chronic Abroses | Silica Asbestos Coal Talc
Bauxite and
corundum
Beryllium
Varisties
Siliconia Asbestosis
Coal pneumoconiosis Talo preumoconiosis
Shaver's disease
Beryllium granulomatovia
granulomatovia
2. Acute pneumon-
|| itia demaand
Manganese 1
Beryllinm
or bronchiolitis
Cadmium
Vanadium ;
their oxidenoxiden
Manganese pneumonia Beryllium pneumon
itis &
Bagasso sugar | Bagnasosia
3. Asthma
Wood e.g. Western
red
cedar
Seeds
Grain
Feathers
Wool
Double salta of
Qum
platinum
4. Cancer
Arsenic Chromates
Nickel carbonyl )
Anbestos Hadioactive
emanatioDS
' orthoparorthdopard
of hospitas
* Based on the Malcolm Morris memorial lecture given under the auspices of the Chadwick Trust at St. Mary's Hospital
5. Chronic bronchitis Cotton
--
and emphysema bronchitis Flax and other dusta
--... ----
London on Dec. 9 1952
.
8
8770
so we _
Ah pen
o.6@ a
ra
od
rr
eagtr oe on
Pm ie
4s
Hy Pa
"Boe
at
tba
>a
|j :
4! ee
ore:
4,
e ane
ame
We * oe
gy.
Ome tae
eS
aes .
re
ee
emt
iy is
ey
at
pe!
ges
(ideh ared?
a
Sw,
Lase ee ee a -?
<
-
wi
(as
rile
ete:
'
F
{
50 THE LANCET
ORIGINAL
same much the taking of alcohol had to do with these pulmon-
ary diseases He was against alcohol in the
way
that President Coolidge was against sin and no doubt
he had good reason to be because it was quite cheap in
those days
Two other great English names in the history of the
pneumoconioses are T. B. Peacock and E. H. Greenhow
Peacock a physician on the staff of St. Thomas's Hospital
first established between 1860 and 1866 the existence of
miners disease as an entity and distinguished it clinically from pulmonary tuberculosis Greenhow 1860 1881
who was attached to the Middlesex Hospital carried out
the first large field investigation into the dusty industries such as the potteries metal trades cutlery making tin and copper mining mining lead mining cotton flax
silk and woollen manufacture hosiery and lace making
making and agriculture In the Transactions of
the Pathological Society of London 1860 6a6re to be found excellent clinical and pathological descriptions by
both these doctors of the disease which was later to be
called silicosis by Visconti in 1870. They even found the
dust of free silica in the lungs and examined it under
polarised light .
;
For about 40 years after this excellent work nothing
much was done about the dust diseases But with the
turn of the century a new interest began to be taken in
-
/ =
Fig
Dust of quarts or
free silica showing ^ 450
crystalline structure
in
the problem not only in this country but also in other
parts of the world It is significant that about the same time there was a quickening of the tempo of life general The horse began to give way to the motor and soon
there came the first aeroplane Then too there was the
telegraph and the telephone and all those comforta of present life which give us little or no time to
think In the factories and in the mines there was a
speeding of output Hand labour began to be replaced by the machine ^ nthe cotton industry the change had
come a little earlier But the hammer or the pneumatic
tool began to be used more extensively in the early part
of the century for such jobs as mining quarrying and the cleaning of castings in foundries There is also the
spray gun which is used to spray paint glazes metals
and asbestos and was introduced with the idea of
speeding up the work This from a health point of view
very is a dangerous instrument because it is
difficult
to control the spray and to prevent its inhalation by the
workers
If there is one thing certain about increased speed of
dusty process production in industry it is that a
will
become more dusty and that there will be a greater
incidence of the dust diseases if attention is not given
at the same time to increased control of dust But quite
ARTICLES
ness
A
4
JULY 11 1053
1e-~
egos
_
ee ees.
oe . Ae
T1 \
.
we
+
Fig
Quartz crystals and aggregatos of iron ezida fame large black
areas in a foundry dust cloed { ^ 1800
chest
the al
inadequate
often the efforts at dust control are inadequate and do not o
not keep pace with the increased speed of production
For instance silicosis and tuberculosis did not
become a problem in h^matitemining until the intro-
of duction
the pneumatic drill Stewart and Faulds
1934 say that h^matitemining has been carried on in
The shown
Cumberland since the time of the Roman occupation
It was formerly considered a healthy trade but &
evidence is accumulating to show that in this respect a
definite change for the worse has taken place The miners
themselves believe that the trouble started with the fj
introduction of the dry mechanical drill in 1913.
Previously the ore had been obtained by the old hammer
and jumper method
:
Meiklejohn 1951 1952a and b in his history of lung &
diseases of coalminers in Great Britain points out that
mechanical cutting and conveying of coal was introduced j
present early in the
cutting of coal led to
century The change an increased dustiness
from handof the air in
the mines not only at the coal face but
&
generally through-
8 out the workings He quotes H.M. Chief Inspector of
Mines Bryan 1950 as saying There is no doubt that F
one result of the adoption of many of the present methods of machine mining is that the production of dust in mines has increased in recent years and is still increasing
If we are to get rid of the scourge of pneumoconiosis
. this process must be reversed McCallum 1952 also
+
thinks that mechanised getting has increased the
prevalence of pneumoconiosis in the Durham coalfield
and that future developments in the coalfield will
intensify dust production and the risks of pneumoconio
sis unless dust suppression methods are considerably
extended
considerably
-
.
FR :
PUR,
af
[&
GaRae
nes
; ;
ees
.
rath
EAL eS
ats
Dy
we ea
5
ree
MO
sk ee
pulmont
! rege definet
SEGRE
this cou
;
LN
8
To
kleselguhr form of free silica x kleselgkluesehlgruhr & crystalllarcrystalllar
OO Tar
.
The use of the pneumatic tool instead of hand methods
7
fettling of steel castings has also increased the
o for the silicosis this occupation McLaughlin et al ) 1950
a.
Dust and Dust Diseaser
It is commonly thought that the dust diseases are
;
pained to a small group of fibroses of the lung caused
painedthe inhalation of inorganic dusts such as silica
st by bestos and coal That this is not so was clearly shown
7 ma
S|
:
Collis in his Milroy lectures in 1915. He pointed out by an excessive mortality from all respiratory diseases was axperienced by dwellers in dusty atmospheres an
which increases with age and with the amount of
er
op. Na
a aa
a:
present In London at that time 660 tons of dust
ultural came down over a square mile whereas in an agri district it was 195 tons & figure which is big
nough in all conscience It is interesting to note also
thatthe inorganic content of the lungs which largely from inhaled dust also increases with age Radio-
* large blog 3
sometimes have difficulty in distinguishing in
ngoitsts not deposits best films the shadows thrown by dust deposits from
d abnormal shadows seen in films of old people It does
te and de
often occur to them that the changes associated with
duction ss
might in fact be partly or even mainly caused by
is did
:
deposits in the lungs
disease
A The
pulmonary disease caused by dust are
the Fauld types of .nd
Fauld
rried on in
in
shown
table .
ccupation
"et
. ;
am
coalfiel ie Guest of tale or French chalk composed of plates and a small
coalfiel
Toalfield will
propor of t fibireo s ^n 1960
It will be seen that these diseases fall into five broad
pe chronio fibrosis acute pneumonia demaand
a
Chiolitis asthma cancer and chronic bronchitis
Wend emphysema There is also a sixth group which hardly
uy under the heading of namely the
es Dermal ray appearances seen in those workers who Eeeve been inhaling the opaque dusts such as iron
emery szides siderosis barium baritosis tin stannosis
emery Such cases usually present an abnormal
Emy picture without clinical evidence of disease or
bility Even these six groups do not complete the bat it will be enough to show that a wide range of
diseases can be caused by the inhalation of
which may be both organic and inorganic It be remembered too that dusts can convey
such as anthrax and tuberculosis and indeed
anthrax sorters disease is a well-
occupational malady now fortunately rare in
m8
country
. country
Dusts and Fumes
8 ey.
c
understand the dust diseases it is necessary to know
Oe eeneen
deal about the chemical and physical properties
y caeaners
dee
sts and fumes the behaviour of dust clouds and
action between them and the tissues of the respira
Pe ey tnt Intensive research during the past 30 years
a i
J
yl
xh
salat
Fig Oust cloud from asbestos boarding showing asbestos fibrus and amorphous cement duet ^ 150
*
has given us a great deal of information on these matters and a few points may be mentioned here
Both dusta and fumes are composed of particles which when airborne can be inhaled into the lungs Dusts which may be organic and inorganic or animal vegetable and mineral are mechanically formed by vigorous action such as grinding rubbing crushing drilling hammering and sawing and in general are of the same chemical composition as the substances from which they come Fumes the term is often used incorrectly are the result of condensation of particles from the gaseous state and in industry are usually the oxides formed from hot or boiling metals Iron oxide for instance when it comes hot off the welding arc is a fume but when it is in the form of rust knocked off an iron girder it is a dust In a dust cloud fig 1 the particles remain separate but in a fume they tend to flocculate and form large masses composed of very small particles
It has been shown that most of the particles of dust or fume which get into the lung tissue are about 3 or less in diameter and it is often assumed that anything larger cannot get into the alveoli But these structures measure up to 100 across and there seems to be no reason why particles much larger than 3 cannot get into them The factor which determines the size of dust particles found in the lungs is the diameter of the lymphatic channels through which they are taken by phagocytes It is true however that many of the larger particles are trapped in the nose and the upper respiratory passages
Gane, BAe
1 .
=,
wee =
3
Varraw +
Fig Leather dust composed mainly of striped
^ 240
muscle
mt
wh.ren-
wt
2"BCE
8
ale
-
e
meefC: mm
come i
we
cn
be
pyaty
ene Ser
twa
ODtna
0h
CSR Pits
rm
set
ne
Sem parte
4%
* nate.
na
+ ee
gt
tT
pater
eye
4
byby
wha
SSMS
Soke
PE R,
TanTe
pont
beak
=
RS
AkaOM |
a
|
ost or
| eT
t a
52 THE LANCET
ORIGINAL ARTICLES
JULY 11 1953
TABLE DEATH FROM ALL Types of pneumOCONIOSIS IN England and wALES 1940
51
Industry
1040 | 1841 |
Potteries ..
00 Sandstone metals
6.
wd
metals
3 109
45 82
| Grinding of metals & |:
att
26
Refractories
oe
Miscellaneona os
Cosimining
rr
Other mining
.
Asbestos :
Cotton byselnosis
os
18
o-
T
ottf
232
61
re
12
5
196 40
1
7
oe
occupational
533
423
| 850 | 481 |
1942
41
54
26
7
?
130 4a
|
11
434
443 |
1943
41
21 7 5
276 43 8 ?
485
493
| 1944
32
24 6
13
| 311 39 10 1
493
531
| 1945 | 1948 | 1947 | 1948 | 1949 | 3950 | 1951 Totala
64 49
18
63
73
63
608
65 {| | 81
55
88
81
29
Tl
779
| 22
33
21
26
37
22
21
325
8
10
13
13
&
117
| | | | | | | | 19 387 40
14 421
61
26 877
50
27 639
48
25 756
84
70 848
42
129 937
81
347 5808
679
11
16
15
15
17
38
14
361
10
3
8
INGSK47
11
8
65
604
855
818
893
1033
1113
1305
3789
529
568 | 610 | 851 | 554 | 879 | 732 | 8907
Each dust cloud has its own characteristic
under the microscope
appearance
In fig 1 is shown the dust of
quartz or free silica which
It is composed of small crystals
remain separate in the dust cloud By contrast
the appearance of iron oxide fume is shown in fig 2. The
large black masses are made up of hundreds of small
particles Fig 3 shows the microscopic appearances of
kieselguhr or diatomite a crystalline form of free
silica Fig 4 shows the dust of tale or Freach chalk
which is composed of plates and a few fibres while in
fig 5 asbestos dust is seen to be made up mainly of fibres
Leather dust is shown in fig 6 to be made up of non-
striped muscle ; wood dust fig 7 has characteristic
transverse striations
The Body's Defence Mechanisms Against Dust
If a man's lungs are healthy they can deal with a good
deal of dust or fume without becoming damaged The body's defence mechanisms against dust are briefly
a the vibriss^of the nose which act as a partial filter for the larger particles ; b the mucous secretions of the nose and the upper respiratory passages in which a large proportion of the particles is trapped and then expelled by c the wave action of the cilia of the nasal and bronchial epithelium Below the respiratory bronchioles where there are no cilia d the phagocytes come into play They engulf the dust particles and take
them up.to the area of ciliary action or into the lung lymphatics Recent work has cast doubt on the hypo-
thesis that dust is taken into the lung parenchyma by phagocytic action but the fact remains that dust does get into the lungs whatever may be the exact method of
locomotion
The concentration of dust which can be inhaled without
danger varies according to the nature of the dust and also
to the length of time that a man is breathing it Again
the intermittent exposure to high concentrations of dust may be more dangerous than exposure to lower concen trations over a longer period The harder the job is the more deeply will a man have to breathe and in conse
quence he will breathe more dust Individuals too vary greatly in their capacity to deal with dusts and of two men who have been working at the same job for the same length of time one may get a disease of the lung and the other may be unaffected This is one reason why I am not greatly impressed by the validity of what are
known as the maximum allowable concentrations of dusts M.A.C. of which lists have been drawn up in various countries The M.A.C.s seem to be based on the
assumption that man is a standardised machine which clearly he is not The reasons for the differences in individual reaction to dust are not accurately known but
it is likely that they depend on anatomical physiological
and biochemical variations from one person to another It
MINING
SILICOSIS & PNEUMOCONIOSIS
1946 1947 1949 1951 1940
1941
1943
1944
1946
1947
1948
1949
1950
1951
237 187
FACTORY PROCESSES
157 143
sO :
re
317
92
192 184
207 214 225
it
61 1945 os & 1949 1950 1941 0 & BY 1945 COC AR wD 1949 1961 vr i 1961
1941 61
1941
-_=
-
~
1949
1961
1945
-_
-
-=
1949
1950
1961
showing trends Fig Chart
of deaths from fibrosis of the lungs in
coalminers and factory workers during the period 1948-31 inclusive
Fig Dust of wood ^ 300
is known however that previous damage to the lungs i
a factor which leads to the retention of dust in them In
any case there are instances where people have spent long years in the dusty trades and have died from cauBE
other than the dust diseases On the other hand many thousands have died as a direct result of the inhalation of dust .
:
The Size of the Problem .
How many deaths have occurred from the dust
in diseases Our information is incomplete many respects
but table 1 gives at least some idea of the size of the problem It is based on figures supplied to the Factory Department by the Registrar and it shown the
number of deaths from fibrosis of the lung from 1940 to
1951 inclusivo
In all industries there were 8789 deaths from
tional
fibrosis of
the
lung in
the
year
period
occupa and it will
be seen that the total yearly figures are going up Over
the same period there were 8907 deaths from nop-
NVA Fem
fede SEER ORC AE RS AS Aa
.
RGOR hares,
Seater a Rae Sedilt iettonese=
yee
Se Noe
:
RAF
y a
pow
abPec ;
re Ee
ee
Mi
OGs
Se Pars
crear
ig: Sa
JULY 11 1953 q
F 5
om
E
fe... : al
10
'
199
| 937
| 18
8
wy Totals
|
2
608
j 7 779
w
395 | 347 q my
5808 308 161 sf
65 SB
1305
. 732
'
8789
| : |8907*
7
Oe aluals too vary
ists and of two
THE LANCET
;
ORIGINAL
occupational fibrosis of the lung It should be
that the deaths occurring each year in the emphasised
group are the result of conditions which oocbctuapianteidonainl
industry some years previously possibly 10-20
aven longer About thirds of the total
years or
Maths occurred in coalminers and the number of
= aceply from 232 in 1940 to 937 in 1951.
figures
It is
rose
part of the increase is due to
likely that
At least to
more accurate diagnosis or
in the greater interest pneumoconiosis problem
ongst coalminers In fig 8 is shown a
sed on the crude figures from table 11 betweencodmepaartishosn
:: coalminers and factory workers In factory processes
yearly number of deaths was going down until 1943
a it there has been slight rise in the later years
To be concluded
ARTICLES
JULY 11 1953 53
incubation by estimation of turbidity in the medium
and the amount of folic acid in the urine may easily be
calculated
difficulties has
The test has many
but when it
been successfully initiated it is satisfactory giving
reproducible results Iffurther work confirms the value
of the folic excretion test the diagnosis of sprue
instances should at least in some
be
easier
rendered in that special diet is not required and specimens of
urine can be sent for assay from other
to
hospitals laboratories in which folic tests are being done It
is
not
yet
possible
to
say
whether
a
positive
balance test may be associated with a negative folic excretion
test in the malabsorption syndrome No cases of
for chronic pancreatic disease have been available study
me job for the
Serany ase of the lung
one reason why ity of what are ncentrations of B 1 drawn up in e based on the frene machine which rene
SRE differences in
ely known but 1. physiological Me
to another It ee
GR
by
-9
i]
Py
a:
i
317 i]
i
to the lungs is ff in them In
de have spent
from causes ran
er hand many the inhalation Peay
i
n the dust
many respects
size of the
" the Factory
. it shows the
tre1940 to
la
.
{ .
cupa
ing Over
15 from noti
A FOLIC EXCRETION TEST IN THE INVESTIGATION OF
INTESTINAL MALABSORPTION
RONALD H. GIRDWOOD M.B. Ph.D. Edin F.R.C.P.E. M.R.C.P.
.NIOR LECTURER IN MEDICINE IN THE UNIVERSITY OF EDINBURGH
1.- 1850 Manson having anglicised a similar Dutch
1. described sprue as a disease occurring in the
ies or subtropics or among persons who had
. Jed in warm climates ; the disease was chaprraecvtieroiusseldy
Lossitis and stomatitis by the passage of pale copious
+fermenting stools and by flatulence wasting and
mia
The
phrase
"
the
sprue
syndrome
has been
~ in recent years to include the features found in
pathic steatorrhea of tropical origin and in pic disease ; since the introduction of the balance
">of Cooke et al 1946 it has been extended to include as where there is inegaloblastic an^miaand deficient
corption of fat but little other clinical evidence of
estinal malabsorption and the terin
"
#irome has come into use
malabsorption
given 1 the diagnosis of sprue the balance test is most
ail but it suffers from the fact that the patient has
+
oe
in
a
hospital
where
a
suitable
dict
can
be
at all the food given must be consumed or necessary corrections made and that the stools must be collected
Rfoorspisteavlerwalarddasys always a difficult matter in general
It has usually been considered rather surprising that enegaloblastic enegaloblastic an^miaof sprue can be treated with olic acid administered by mouth The seeming paradox
of
successfully treating a condition believed to be due to
malabsorption of h^mopoietic factors by giving these site substances orally has led to the hypothesis that the
fault in sprue is malabsorption of naturally occurring
acid conjugates rather than of folic acid itself In some instances it appears that there is malabsorption of vitamin B1 since therapy with parenterally adminis-
tered vitamin B has been effective in a few patients The present investigation indicates that there is in
fart considerable deficiener of absorption of folic acid in
sprue and that advantage can be taken of this to devise 4. Test of folic absorption and excretion for the
iiagnosis of malabsorption by the small intestine The estimation of the acid content of the urine
other fluids is usually done microbiologically The growth of a certain strain of a streptococcus or
Lactobacillus in a suitable medium depends on the
Aloitit of folic acid present in that medium Thus it is
possible to set up tubes containing the medium
theasured
with
the
amounts of folic acid and others containing
medium with various dilutions of urine In both
sets of tubes the amount of growth depends on the
concentration of folic acid The amount of growth is measured electrically after a suitable period of *
METHODS AND MATERIALS
The folic acid used in these tests whether it was
given by injection
'
or
by
mouth
was
derived
from
ampoules
of Folvite Lederle Laboratories Ltd. The amponies
were taken from batches tested by us and found to
contain lmg of folic acid per ml Certain batches were
rejected because their content proved to be higher than
that stated on the label Most of the ampoules were in
fact taken from one batch supplied by Dr. A. T.
Mennie of Lederle Laboratories Ltd. London In any one
patient the same batch was used for all the tests
On two occasions where the intention was to load
the tissues by large doses cases 33 and 37 table
hospital stock ampoules were used
11
The dose was accurately measured in a tuberculin
syringe For tests of excretion following oral therapy
this test dose was diluted with a small
quantity of water hour collections of urine were made in brown bottles containing toluene and a phosphate buffer of pH 6.8 The greatest possible care was taken to
ensure that the
urines were total hour specimens Recovery experi-
ments in which folic acid was added to urine
completely satisfactory results The urines were keptgi avne refrigerator at C and readings were usually made
within 3
days All the readings were made at least in duplicate
Folic acid was estimated by the method of Teply and
tEhlevethejstemor1g9an4i5smStrTehpteoctouccbuess f^calis R being used as
for about 16 hours and readingswweerree imnacdubeatbeyd at 37
turbidity estimations in a Spekker electric
absorptiometer No correction need be made for the resting
urinary
content of folic acid since in ten normal persons the mean
urinary folic content corrected for citrovorum factor was only 1-7 grange 0-12-3-6
gper 24 hours
Urinary citrovorum factor was estimated in
instances since citrovorum factor is also
most
for Strep f^calisthe
organism
used
in
a
the
growth
factor
Citrovorum factor
folic assay
was estimated by a modification of the method of Sauberlich and Baumann
Leuconostoc citrovorum as the test
1948 with
turbidity readings were made afteorrginacnuibsamtioHn earte 3to7o
for about 16 hours The mean
resting urinary content of
citrovorum factor in ten normal persons was 0.84
range negligible amount gper 24 hours
g No
correction has been made for this in
factor readings which are included
the citrovorum-
interest
only for biochemical
It will be seen that a sinall
administered in these
proportion of the folic acid
investigations was excreted
citrovorum factor or as a substance with similar
as
biological properties but the
micro
excretion have
figures given for folic
not been corrected for this because such a correction would in no way alter the
Several of the patients were in
conclusions
districts where it
hospitals in outlying .
was impossible to make as full investigations as would have been preferred In
it was
some instances
necessary to collect the urine at the
homes
;
patients
_
re
ee
es
teae
wet
ave oe) eel eaten
on Wop
2. be
rt