584 



SGIENGE 



[N. S. Vol. XXIX. No. 745 



commodations were tightly closed, while be- 

 neath was a cargo of ferro-silieon. The 

 deaths were at first supposed to be from 

 cholera, or possibly from ptomain poisoning, 

 but these causes were subsequently excluded. 

 The only noticeable symptoms found on post- 

 mortem examination were connected with the 

 lungs, which were in aU cases strongly con- 

 gested with dark venous blood. Cultures 

 from the stomachs and intestines showed in 

 several instances the presence of numerous 

 vibrios, which so closely simulated those of 

 cholera that they were with great difficulty 

 distinguished from these. Suspicion was 

 finally turned to the ferro-silicon as the cause 

 of death and a series of experiments insti- 

 tuted which revealed the fact that under the 

 influence of moisture poisonous gases are 

 given off. Mice placed in jars over ferro- 

 silicon soon showed symptoms of dulness and 

 somnolency. When the ferro-silicon was 

 moist, death preceded by disturbances of 

 movement ensued in a few hours. Guinea- 

 pigs under similar conditions succumbed in 

 ten hours. The only abnormal feature on 

 post-mortem examination was congestion of 

 the limgs, such as is usually seen in cases of 

 suffocation. Experiments were further insti- 

 tuted to determine what gases were respon- 

 sible for the fatal results. Acetylene and 

 hydrogen silicid were excluded and arsin 

 found only in traces. Small quantities of 

 phosphin (phosphoretted hydrogen) were 

 found to be present, and this seems to be the 

 principal poisonous constituent of the ema- 

 nation. While little is known' of the toxi- 

 cology of phosphin, it is stated to be so poison- 

 ous that 0.02 per cent, of it in the air is fatal 

 to small animals in half an hour. As ferro- 

 silicon is formed by heating iron ore, quartz, 

 coke and lime in an electric furnace, and as 

 phosphorus is usually present in at least two 

 of these constituents, phosphids, which evolve 

 phosphin on treatment with water, would be 

 present in ferro-silicon. 



This investigation has served to throw 

 light on several deaths which have been re- 

 corded in the past three years, which were 

 undoubtedly due to ferro-silicon. In August, 

 190Y, four persons died on the steamer Olaf 



Wijk, which was carrying ferro-sUicon as part 

 of its cargo. A short time before two chil- 

 dren are recorded as dying on a Khine 

 steamer, having slept in a close cabin im- 

 mediately over ferro-silicon, which composed 

 a part of the cargo of the vessel. Four other 

 cases of death on vessels carrying ferro-silicon 

 are recorded, where the cause of death was not 

 at the time suspected, but which are probably 

 to be attributed to ferro-silicon. 



As ferro-silicon is now used on a large 

 scale in steel making, it is desirable that at- 

 tention should be called to the fact that cer- 

 tain precautions should be taken in its trans- 

 portation, especially that it shall be kept as 

 dry as possible, and that it shall be well 

 ventilated. 



J. L.H. 



SPECIAL ARTICLES 



THE PHYSIOLOGICAL SIGNIFICANCE OP CREATIN 



AND CREATINm' 



Two fundamental observations have fur- 

 nished the incentive to investigation and 

 given the direction to hypotheses on the topic 

 under discussion to-day. One of these was 

 the discovery of creatin as a constant constit- 

 uent of the muscular tissues of vertebrates; 

 the other was the presence of creatinin in the 

 urine of the higher animals. Creatin can be 

 changed by the action of acids into creatinin, 

 which in turn is supposed to form creatin in 

 alkaline solutions. Since the chemist is able 

 so readily to convert each of these compounds 

 into the other in the laboratory, it was quite 

 logical for the physiologist to assume some 

 genetic relation between them in the living 

 body. Creatin was looked upon as a product 

 of protein metabolism in muscle, easily con- 

 verted into its " anhydride " creatinin and thus 

 eliminated in the urine. From this point of 

 view two possible sources of urinary creatinin 

 early suggested themselves, namely, an exo- 

 genous source in the muscle tissue (meat) 

 consumed as food; and an endogenous origin,. 



' Papers read at the joint session of Section K 

 — Physiology and Experimental Medicine — of th& 

 American Association for the Advancement of Sci- 

 ence and the bacteriologists, biochemists and 

 physiologists, Baltimore, December, 1908. 



