REDUCTION OF URIC ACID DECOMPOSITION 173 



istically met in gout, in conformity with the above statements 

 is not due to an increase in formation, the logical conclusion 

 is that it must be dependent upon some interference or pro- 

 longation in the elimination of uric acid. 



Question of Reduction of Uric Acid Decomposition in 

 Gout. The elimination of uric acid from the blood may, 

 doubtless, be accomplished by its destruction by oxidation. 

 This, as has been seen, occurs physiologically in the experi- 

 ment animals in laboratory investigation upon this point, the 

 uric acid being changed into allantoin. This, however, is not 

 true of man, in whom the latter process of conversion takes 

 place only in a very minor degree. At once, then, a question 

 which has been discussed in the previous lecture recurs. Is 

 uric acid in man to be looked upon, as Wiechowski believes, as 

 an end-product of metabolism ; or is it, as Brugsch and Schit- 

 tenhelm and Burian opine, subject in some degree in man to 

 further catabolic change, perhaps to the formation of urea ? 

 In the author's opinion Wiechowski 's arguments are entirely 

 obvious ; and in consonance with this view he would con- 

 clude that the basis of gout cannot be referred to a reduction 

 in the ability of the body to decompose uric acid by oxida- 

 tion, because this process cannot physiologically be an im- 

 portant one in the human body. The author appreciates 

 thoroughly that others have different opinions upon these 

 matters ; but, as was remarked in a previous lecture, every 

 man can observe only with his own eyes and think only with 

 his own brain. Fortunately, every problem in the natural 

 sciences is bound sooner or later to come to a stage where a 

 natural end is fixed for all subjective conceptions and where 

 the actual state of affairs objectively viewed assumes a more 

 or less obvious aspect. 



If then it is correct, in accordance with the author 's belief, 

 that in gout we are not dealing with a reduction of uric acid 

 decomposition, there is obviously only one possible explana- 



