I.— PHYSIOLOGY. 177 



shock. This shock begins with an albuminuria and sometimes hsema- 

 turia ; it is followed by toxic myocarditis and pulmonary oedema. There 

 is, however, no clear evidence to prove that the shock in tuberculous 

 animals after an injection of sanocrysin is due to the destruction of 

 tubercle bacilli and the setting free of endotoxins, which act as tuberculin 

 acts on tuberculous animals. 



Another feature of importance in these experiments is that the cultures 

 used were attenuated. The doses necessary to kill were enormous and 

 many control animals failed to die or contract severe disease. 



Hoyle and I have recently investigated two new types of gold com- 

 pounds in tuberculosis. One of these is a complex aurous salt of 

 ethylenethiocarbamide with the formula (Au,2etu)H20, where etu 

 represents ethylenethiocarbamide . 



CHj NHv 



CS ' Etu ' 



CH, NH^ 



This compound, prepared by G. T. Morgan, is stable, crystalline and 

 colourless at ordinary temperatures. It is soluble in distilled water, 

 forming a solution neutral to litmus and with a pH value of about 6-2. 

 It was tested for therapeutic effects on both human and bovine types of 

 infection. For the former, inoculations were made subcutaneously into 

 guinea-pigs with 1-mgm. doses of a virulent human strain. All the 

 animals, control and experimental groups, died within a few days of one 

 another and all showed characteristic progressive lesions of similar extent. 



It was found that treatment with the gold compound in bovine disease 

 in rabbits prolonged life about 50 per cent, when compared with controls. 

 We adopted the arbitrary standard that treated animals should survive 

 at least two or three times longer than the average length of life of the 

 controls before clinical trial should be proceeded with. In view of the 

 wide variations in individual susceptibility, and the difficulty that this 

 entails in drawing sound positive conclusions from a small series of animals, 

 it is absolutely necessary to exercise the utmost caution before arousing 

 clinical expectations. 



Gold Succinimide 



The second compound tested by us was a complex gold derivative of 

 succinimide, prepared by my colleague, Sir William Pope. This compound 

 is non-ionised and the gold is associated in chemical combination in an 

 internal organic ring. It is a white, crystalline, stable compound at 

 ordinary temperatures, readily soluble in water to a neutral solution. 



This substance was tested for therapeutic effect in experimental bovine 



infections in rabbits. In some animals this treatment was supplemented 



by injections of potassium iodide subcutaneously ; in no case have any 



therapeutic benefits been observed. There has been no increase in the 



1929 jj 



