632  Uranium  as  an  Industrial  Poison.    {  Am' septr' 19^9^' 
uranium  were  employed  in  the  steel  industry  the  high  temperatures 
used  would  lead  to  the  formation  of  one  or  several  oxides,  the  most 
important  being  uranium  dioxide  and  uranous  uranate,  both  of 
which  are  insoluble  in  water.  In  grinding,  polishing,  and  perhaps 
in  other  operations,  these  oxides  might  appear  in  the  form  of  a  dust. 
Animal  experiments  conducted  by  the  Cleveland  pathologists 
demonstrate  that  uranium  oxide,  the  state  in  which  the  metal  is  most 
likely  to  reach  the  upper  respiratory  tract  when  distributed  indus- 
trially in  the  form  of  dust,  can  be  toxic  and  fatal  when  administered 
by  mouth.  This  oxide  is  insoluble  in  water;  but  it  will  dissolve  in 
gastric  juice,  so  that  the  possibility  of  the  formation  of  a  soluble 
toxic  salt  is  established.  The  production  of  nephritis  by  uranium 
salts  has  long  been  recognized  as  an  experimental  fact,  and  the 
method  has  served  to  facilitate  the  study  of  the  pathology  of  renal 
functions.  Karsner  and  his  associates  have  observed  that  the  ex- 
cretion of  uranium,  so  far  as  it  is  accomplished,  is  primarily  by  way 
of  the  kidneys.  When  functional  and  anatomic  lesions  arise  in  the 
kidneys  through  the  presence  of  the  poison,  the  decreased  effective- 
ness of  excretion  makes  matters  worse  by  favoring  an  accumulation 
of  the  metal  in  the  kidney.  There  is,  probably,  no  special  "  affinity  " 
of  uranium  for  the  kidney  cells  nor  any  unusual  susceptibility  to  the 
poison  on  their  part.  The  possibility  of  protecting  the  kidneys  by 
the  administration  of  alkalies  to  combat  the  concomitant  acidosis  in 
such  cases  represents  one  of  the  therapeutic  considerations  that  ex- 
perimental medicine  has  taught.3 
Incidentally  it  should  be  stated  that  uranium  nitrate  was  ad- 
mitted to  the  Ninth  (the  most  recent)  Revision  of  the  U.  S.  Phar- 
macopoeia. Surely  the  danger  of  this  salt  could  not  have  been  ap- 
preciated when  this  action  was  taken  by  the  Revision  Committee. 
There  does  not  appear  to  be  sufficient  evidence  of  its  therapeutic 
value  to  warrant  inclusion  in  this  official  book.  The  drug  is  not  in- 
cluded in  the  Useful  Drugs,  prepared  by  the  Council  on  Pharmacy 
and  Chemistry.  The  Epitome  of  the  U.  S.  Pharmacopoeia,  prepared 
for  the  use  of  physicians  by  a  special  committee  of  the  Council  on 
Pharmacy  and  Chemistry,  has  this  to  say  under  "Actions  and 
Uses":  "(Uranium  nitrate)  .  .  .  has  been  used,  without  adequate 
justification,  in  the  treatment  of  diabetes  and  cancer.    Solutions  are 
3  MacNider,  W.  deB.,  "The  Inhibition  of  the  Toxicity  of  Uranium  Ni- 
trate by  Sodium  Carbonate,"  Jour.  Exper.  Med.,  23,  171  (Feb.),  1916;  "Rela- 
tive Toxicity  of  Uranium  Nitrate,"  Jour.  Exper.  Med.,  26,  I,  19  (July),  1917. 
