igis] Max Kahn 407 



trates may be administered subcutaneously, with no bad results. 

 He did not State the doses to which he referred, but he classed the 

 tartrates with the sulfates and the citrates. Post^^ found that 

 Rochelle salt, administered in ordinary doses by mouth to human 

 beings, did not cause albuminuria or cylinduria, or aggravate an 

 existing nephritis. 



Connio,^^ in his experiments on dogs and rabbits, showed that 

 the intravenous administration of tartaric acid induced marked al- 

 buminuria, nephritis and death. The nephritis produced was essen- 

 tially glomerular, though the tubules were also involved. Given 

 per OS it induced vomiting and finally nephritis and death.^''' 



Underhill and his coworkers^^ have recently added much to our 

 knowledge of the pathological effects of tartrates. In their ex- 

 periments on rabbits and dogs they found that there is no strict 

 relation between the dose of tartrate and the extent of damage 

 inflicted. Histological study of the affected kidney tissue revealed 

 that it was the epithelium of the convoluted tubules that was mostly 

 involved, and to a less extent the loops of Henle. The glomerulus 

 and the interstitial tissue remained intact. Neither the liver nor 

 the adrenals showed any ill effects of the tartrate administration. 

 The most effective way of administering the tartrates was found to 

 be subcutaneously (in doses of 1.5 to 2.5 gm., to rabbits). Under- 

 nutrition increased susceptibility to the influences that caused renal 

 lesions. It was also observed that the kidneys in tartrate nephritis 

 lost the power of excreting urea injected intravenously, but the 

 power of excreting chlorids so administered remained unimpaired. 



Dakin^^ investigated the coefficient of intestinal ahsorption of 

 the various tartaric acids. He found that all of the acids were 

 absorbed equally, no selective absorption having been noticed. 



In liver perfusion experiments, Ohta^^ found that, upon addi- 

 tion of 6 gm. of either d- or /^-tartaric (racemic) acid to the perfus- 

 ing blood, acetone was formed in the liver. The perfusion of 

 succinic acid was not followed by this result. 



55 Post: Jour. Amer. Med. Assoc, 1913, Ixii, p. 592. 



56 Connio: Arch. di antropol. crimin., 1911, xxxii, p. 438, 



67 Connio : Path. riv. quindicin. Geneva, 1910, iii, p. 428. 



68 Underhill, Wells and Goldschmidt : Jour. Exp. Med., 1913, xviii, p. 322. 



69 Dakin : Jour. Biol. Chem., 1908, iv, p. 437. 

 60 Ohta : Biochem. Zeit., 1912, xlv, p. 167. 



