190 PATHOLOGY OF PURIN METABOLISM 



ployed decomposition readily took place and suggest that 

 the alkali given off from the glass container may also be of 

 some import. "If there is no direct influence of the rays 

 upon monourate of sodium," say v. Knaffl-Lenz and Wie- 

 chowski, i ' there may possibly be an activation of a uric acid 

 oxidase existing in the human tissues in mere traces to 

 explain the favorable' effect of the emanation upon gout. 

 . . . Such an influence of the rays, however, seems im- 

 probable to us, because in almost all experiments in human 

 metabolism the amount of uric acid excreted has been found 

 increased. 43 In trying to explain the curative influence of 

 radium rays in gout there is still left the supposition that 

 the elimination of uric acid through the kidneys is made 

 easier by the effect of the rays. Whether this is to be 

 thought of as a direct action on the process of secretion of 

 the uric acid, or whether it is an indirect one, as His and 

 his pupils hold, facilitating the excretion of the uric acid by 

 inhibiting inflammation of the organs, is a matter in which 

 further experimentation in appropriate lines is to be 

 desired." Since, according to Knaffl-Lenz 7 s observations 

 on the effect of large amounts of radium emanations, there 

 may not only be an influence exerted upon the respiratory 

 apparatus but upon the central nervous system as well, 

 caution is always requisite in the radium treatment of gout. 44 

 Eecent investigations in Neuberg's laboratory have given 

 results in accord with those of Knaffl-Lenz and Wiechowski, 

 showing that radium rays have no influence upon the solubil- 

 ity of sodium monourate or upon its decomposition into 

 C0 2 and ammonia. 45 



48 H. Mandel (Radium in Biol., 1, 163, 1911, cited in Centralbl. f. d. ges. 

 Biol., 12, No. 2879) found the excretion curve of uric acid absolutely unin- 

 fluenced in cases of gout which manifested distinct improvement from the effect 

 of radium rays. 



44 E. v. Knaffl-Lenz (H. H. Meyer's Lab.), Wiener klin. Wochenschr., 25, 

 No 12. 



46 P. Lazarus, 29th Kongr. f. innere Med., Wiesbaden, Apr. 17, 1912; 

 J. Kerb and P. Lazarus ( Chem. Dept., Physiol. Instit. of the Berlin Agric. High 

 School), Biochem. Zeitschr., 42, 82, 1912. 



