14 



edema. Collins reported a case of undoubted multiple 

 myeloma that was observed for several months and in which 

 there was no excretion of the Bence Jones protein. Naunyn 

 reported a case in which the whole skeleton was riddled with 

 metastatic carcinomatous growths and the urine examined 

 for the Bence Jones protein for some time, but it was never 

 present. Scheele and Herxheimer reported a case of multiple 

 myeloma with no Bence Jones protein in the urine. 



The above-mentioned case of Naunyn's may be explained 

 according to Weber as follows: the tumor cells derived from 

 bone marrow cells, however much they may resemble morpho- 

 logically true bone marrow cells, are more prone to abnormality 

 (including unusual degenerative changes) than real myelocytes. 

 Furthermore, metastatic tumors in the bone marrow do not 

 give rise to the Bence Jones protein for the reason that non- 

 myelogenic tumor cells are not affected in the same way. 



The view of Decastello that the Bence Jones protein is only 

 excreted in those cases where the kidneys are diseased, is 

 hard to reconcile with the statement of others that the serum 

 proteins are never, and of some investigators that they are 

 seldom, excreted together with the Bence Jones protein. 

 One would think that if the kidneys are diseased, albuminuria 

 would occur in a larger proportion of cases. The Bence Jones 

 protein is excreted in 80 per cent, of the cases of multiple 

 myeloma, but it does not appear likely that so many would 

 present kidney lesions. It seems more likely that the kidney 

 lesion is a result of the excretion of the Bence Jones protein 

 rather than the cause of its elimination, especially since Stokvis 

 has shown that hemiproteose solution injected under the 

 skin once or twice, will pass out through the kidneys without 

 doing them any apparent injury, but if the injections are 

 frequently repeated, the hemiproteose in passing through 

 the kidneys appears to excite in them organic disease. 



VI. EXPERIMENTAL. 



At the outset of this study it was necessary to ascertain 

 whether osseoalbumoid is digestible, i. -e., whether proteases 

 convert it into familiar types of hydration products. Further, 



