The Philippine Journal of Science 1923 



apex, not transmitted to axilla. Cardiac 

 area not enlarged. Heart beats faint, rapid but regular. No local- 

 ized resistance or tenderness in abdomen. Spleen and liver not felt. 

 Reflexes normal. No oedema. Died after six hours, in spite of treat- 



Autopay (Dr. E. V. Pineda). — Heart slightly larger than normal, mus- 

 culature grayish red, but endocardium opaque and grayish white. No 

 definite tuberculosis, but slight fibrosis, right apex. Spleen normal in 

 size, wrinkled, stroma markedly increased. Liver congested, deep red, 

 cut surface darker than normal, mottled. Alimentary tract normal 

 throughout Kidneys normal in size, and slightly softer than normal. 

 Cortex thin, pale, with a few cortical cysts. Capsule stripped off with 

 slight difficulty, tearing surface at points. 



Diagnosis. — Nephritis, chronic, slight; leprosy. Immediate cause of 

 death not determined. . 



Histologically (Doctor Pineda) kidneys showed chronic parenchymatous 

 nephritis; heart cloudy swelling; spleen chronic interstitial splenitis with 

 miliary lepromata; liver chronic passive congestion, slight proliferation 

 of bile ducts, and miliary lepromata. Sections of lung examined nor- 



TARTAR EMETIC IN LEPRA FEVER 



Tartar emetic by mouth has been tried out by certain mem- 

 bers of the staff at Clinic 2, in the treatment of the so-called 

 lepra fever. It was given in a mixture of sodium salicylate and 

 sodium bicarbonate, in doses that represented 8 centigrams of 

 the tartar emetic per day. 



It has been possible to gather data on twenty-nine cases of 

 lepra fever treated solely with this formula, receiving from 

 0.24 to 1.96 grams of tartar emetic during the treatment. The 

 average duration of stay in the hospital for these cases was 

 twenty-seven days, four days more than the average hospital- 

 ization for 1922 in this clinic, which was reported as twenty- 

 three days. 



Two cases in this group died ; these had chronic nephritis on 

 admission to the hospital. One of them developed uremic symp- 

 toms after ten days of treatment, during which time he had 

 received about 0.9 gram of the drug. The other was given 1.80 

 grams in twenty-five days before he died, the prominent symp- 

 toms toward the end being progressive weakness, loss of appe- 

 tite, drying up of ulcers, and vomiting. 



In four other cases oedema of the legs and albumin in the 

 urine were noticed during the treatment. One of these received 

 only 0.24 gram, the second 0.32 gram, the third 0.56 gram, while 

 the amount given the fourth could not be determined. 



It is not possible, for lack of control observations, to say posi- 

 tively whether these patients improved more rapidly or less 



