ELIMINATION OF LEAD FROM THE SYSTEM. 87 
declaring that ether fulfils the same indications as chloroform 
without giving rise to the same dangers .—Medical News. 
ON ELIMINATION OE LEAD FROM THE SYSTEM. 
Bv Dr. Bacon. 
For some years past I have had occasion to make many 
analyses of the urine in cases of chronic lead-poisoning. 
Some points which have attracted my attention may have a 
practical interest. It is not known in what state of combina¬ 
tion absorbed lead is locked up in the tissues. An organic 
compound of albumen with oxide or chloride of lead may be 
formed^ or a double compound of lead with chloride of 
potassium or sodium, as was long since maintained by Mialhe. 
Various compounds of lead taken into the stomach, except 
perhaps the sulphide, are decomposed and dissolved by the 
alkaline compounds normally present in the alimentary canal; 
and a recent analysis by Professor Wurtz shows that a leaden 
bullet, that had been for many years embedded in a cyst 
in the lung, was corroded, much diminished in weight, and 
surrounded by a crust of chloride, free from sulphate or 
phosphate. In that case lead was found in the substance of 
the lungs and the diaphragm. Absorbed lead is diffused 
generally through the system, but not uniformly. The spleen 
contains the largest proportion, and next to that, the liver. 
Lead also occurs in the urine, which seems to be the chief 
channel of elimination. YY hen once deposited in the tissues 
it is very slowly removed, and the symptoms continue for 
many months after exposure to the cause of lead-poisoning 
has ceased. Still there is no doubt that in time it will be 
eliminated spontaneously. In cases where I have analysed 
the urine previous to treatment, but after removal from the 
source of poison, lead has rarely been present. 
Of late years iodide of potassium has been much used as 
a means of eliminating absorbed lead, and most of my 
analyses have been made in cases under this treatment. 
Melsens maintains that large amounts of lead were removed in 
the form of iodide of lead, easily soluble in iodide of potassium, 
which is well known to pass off readily by the urine. In the 
cases that have come under my notice, repeated analyses, 
made at various periods after the use of the iodide was com¬ 
menced, and under large or small doses, have never detected 
