Document jg2L8bOeJJzjyok5JK8RJv0Jp

March 1, 1547 D r . IS. J *j J . Hye, Brisbane pllnlc, Wickham Terrace, Brisbane B IT, Australia. ; . Dear D r . H y e : . First let me thank you for your interest in my having a copy of your book. Despite the fact that this did not come directly from you, it is your work, and therefore I feel a considerable personal and professional gratitude to you for having done it. I feel I should not have been able to obtain a copy except through the generpsity of Dr. Fairley. I am quit e frank to say that I am not as certain as you are, even after hav Ing read your excellent book, that the problems you are dealing v ith are due in any primary sense of the word to lead absorptlo.n or lead poisoning. I agree that the evidence Is strongly suggestive. I do not agree,in view of our Ignorance of uie me chan Isms involved,that either arteriosclerosis or kidney disease o f the type described owes its origin to the effects of lead. It is a difficult problem to get at experimentally or clinically , but I feel that the pathological physiology, if I may call It that, of these diseases must be better understood before ve can be ertain of our position. All too frequently things that happen to gether in time have been associated by medical men as cause and effect, only to find later with better understanding of the probl em, that these were coincidental relationships only. The problem of arteriosclerosis has been talked about and investigated extensive ly for many many years. We do not appear to be much closer to the answer than we were long ago. On the other hand, an accumu lalion of physiological and clinical facts Is probably building the background on which the understanding of this problem, or I shou Id say, this series of problems, will finally rest. I cannot fi ad It In my make-up to accept either the experimental or clinical evidence which suggests that lead absorption has an important relationship to arterial disease. In my own observations on Industfial workmen I have not 3een any evidence which In any way conv ces me that protracted lead exposure, even when severe, materially changes the Incidence and severity of arteriosclerosis in an ind ustrial population. It may be that something happens to children that does not occur in the case of the adult. My experienc e, or rather my lack of experience, does not entitle me to an opi:nlon, but on general clinical and historical grounds a3 well as p nthological considerations, I still find myself in considerable doubt. N 6107 Dr. L. J. J. Nye, - {2) - March 1, 1947 Despite1;this point of view, or perhaps rather more on account of it, I hope that I shall be able to visit your country in the not too dispant future, and I shall certainly look forward to the opportunity of talking with you. ,Sincerely yours iAK ef Copy by Air M i a l . Original by Stearuei. robert A,-. K e h o e , M. D.