SULPHUROUS ACID AND SULPHITES. 1015 



SUMMARY OF EESULTg. 



MEDICAL AND CLINICAL DATA. 



These data clearly show that the administration of sulphites and of 

 sulphurous acid in a free state in the quantities employed produces 

 harmful effects. A tendency is manifested in practically every case 

 to produce headache and digestive disturbances. In some cases 

 these symptoms are not clearly marked, while in others they are 

 extremely well defined. In many cases uneasy sensations and even 

 pain were developed in the stomach and intestines, and there were 

 complaints of "heartburn." The occurrence of this class of symp- 

 toms during the administration of the preservative and their gradual 

 disappearance during the after period seem to be conclusive evidence 

 that they could have been due only to the effect of the preservative 

 itself. There were also in some cases attacks of dizziness and palpi- 

 tation of the heart. In a few cases nausea was developed to the 

 extent of vomiting. 



It was recognized, as in previous experiments, that the mental 

 attitude of the subject might play some part in producing these 

 symptoms or at least might affect the description of them by the man 

 himself. That this, however, does not exercise a dominant influence 

 was more than established by the remarkable effects of the administra- 

 tion of salicylic acid, where, with the same opportunities for mental 

 effects of a depressing character, there was manifested, on the con- 

 trary, a persistent demand for more food, the salicylic acid apparently 

 serving as a stimulant. There is no doubt, therefore, of the fact that 

 the symptoms which are described in the medical history are those 

 actually experienced by the young men, any tendency to exaggera- 

 tion in the reporting of these symptoms having been carefully con- 

 sidered at the time. 



In the case of the men who received sodium sulphite the conclusion 

 is inevitable that the administration of this preservative in the great 

 majority of cases causes headache, sensations of dizziness, v and occa- 

 sional nausea, indigestion, pains in the stomach, and other unfavor- 

 able symptoms. With the men who received sulphurous acid in an 

 uncombined state, headache was very common, there was a slight 

 tendency to dizziness, accompanied in some cases by nausea, and a 

 feeling of exhaustion and weakness. 



In general it may be said that the most prominent symptom was 

 that of headache, which could hardly have been caused by the imagi- 

 nation. This symptom was very commonly and very persistently 

 experienced at some time during the preservative period. 



