SECTION IV., 1910. [85] Trans. R. S. C. 
VI.—On the Nature and Signtficance of the Calcium Content of the Blood. 
By AuBert G. Nicozts, M.A., M.D., D.Sc. 
(Read 28th September, 1910.) 
In the somewhat inadequate remarks which I have the honour of 
presenting at this time to the Royal Society of Canada, I have ventured 
to bring forward a subject to which I have recently begun to give some 
little attention, a subject which has a distinct practical bearing in the 
matter of therapeutics, and is at the same time, I believe, not without 
interest to the biologist, the physiologist, and the pathologist. Inas- 
much, however, as I am only at the threshold of my observations I wish 
this present communication to be regarded as merely preliminary, and 
hope to present my views more in detail, and with a greater weight of 
experience at our meeting next year. 
In an address published in April, 1909,! entitled “General Principles 
in the Treatment of Diseases of the Heart,” a distinguished Liverpool 
physician, Sir James Barr, outlined the method of treatment which he 
adopts in the case of inflammatory rheumatism, in order to prevent the 
occurrence of valvular heart disease, an affection which is notoriously 
apt to complicate this painful trouble. He lays down the principle, 
that the presence of calcium salts in the blood is deleterious in two ways; 
first, by increasing the tendency to fibrin formation, in other words 
by promoting the coagulability of the blood; and, secondly, by raising 
blood pressure. We know, as a matter of experiment, and as a result 
of general pathological experience, that increased strain upon the heart 
valves and muscle distinctly predisposes to, and indeed aggravates in- 
flammatory and degenerative processes in these structures. High blood 
pressure is a cause of increased strain upon the heart. Also, the in- 
flammatory efflorescence upon the heart valves is in large part fibrin. 
Consequently, we can see how, if the action in question of calcium be 
established, a great deal depends on the adoption of rational thera- 
peutic measures in inflammatory rheumatism. On the basis of these 
considerations Sir James Barr, advocates the use of a diet poor in cal- 
cium salts and particularly excludes milk. In this he is at variance with 
the general run of physicians. who for the most part give their patients 
little else but milk. d 
The practice of giving calcium salts in conditions suchas hemophilia, 
hemorrhage, hemoglobinuria, and purpura, where there is an actual 
1 Sir James Barr. British Medical Journal, 1; 1909; 989. 
