HARRIS, GORTNER AND LAWRENCE: STUDIES ON THE PHYSICO

CHEMICAL PROPERTIES OF VEGETABLE SAPS

EXPLANATION OF PLATE 3

Diagrams illustrating the nature of the type of prolification of the fruit of Passiflora gracilis, considered in this paper.

(A) Form of the normal fruit, showing three of the six external sutures. (B) External appearance of extreme case of prolification, showing the wall distended by the large included mass.

(C) Cross section of the fruit wall, showing the three placentae, with funiculi, from which the seeds have been detached. Externally these are represented by three sutures. Three other sutures alternate with these, completing the six which are found in the normal fruit and in this type of prolification.

(D) Longitudinal half of a proliferous fruit, showing one placenta and the line of one of the intermediate (dorsal) external sutures, which is but faintly visible internally. The stalked prolification with three of the four external carpels visible is of typical size. With the exception of the presence of the prolification, the diagram is quite typical of the normal fruit.

(E) A rather small carpellary mass seen from above, exhibiting the pronounced tetramery of the included mass in fruits of this class.

(F) Unusually large prolification, showing the internal whorls of carpels greatly developed and projecting beyond the tetramerous whorls, of which three members are visible. In figures D, E, and F, note the well developed styles and stigmas. All figures are about twice natural size.

COMPARISONS OF URINARY AND SERUM FINDINGS IN THE DIAGNOSIS OF TUBERCULOSIS*

J. BRONFENBRENNER, J. ROCKMAN AND W. J. MITCHELL, JR. (Pathological and Research Laboratories of the Western Pennsylvania Hospital, Pittsburgh, Pa.)

INTRODUCTION. The urinary changes during tuberculosis have been given considerable study. The results obtained by different authors contradict each other, however, in many respects. It is very likely that the disparities among the results of different authors are chiefly due to the fact that it is very difficult to select, for such studies, a group of tuberculous individuals wholly free from conditions that influence the urinary findings and thus complicate the problem. From a review of the literature it appears, however, that a number of investigators have been in accord in finding marked increases of neutral sulfur in the urines of tuberculous individuals. These findings appeared to be very promising from the standpoint of diagnosis, because they seemed to offer the modified procedure of Moritz Weiss as a substitute for the original technic of Ehrlich.

Beginning with Moritz Weiss,1,2 a number of investigators have found the neutral-sulfur test very helpful in the diagnosis of tuberculosis. They have claimed, for instance, that the amount of neutral sulfur increases with the progress of the disease and that, in general, the amount of neutral sulfur in the urine suggests the degree of tissue destruction in the body. According to Moritz Weiss, the persistence of neutral sulfur in, or its disappearance from, the urine, in the progress of anti-tuberculous treatment, indicates the degree of efficiency of the treatment. Curti, in repeating the work of Weiss, found not only that this test was constantly positive in clinical tuberculosis, but also that, in a number of cases of pneumothorax, the quantity of neutral sulfur ran parallel with other clinical symptoms of the disease, and always became negative in cases which could be considered clinically cured. Tecon and Aimart, Jaquerod, Kaplansky, and others, have also found the presence of excess of neutral sulfur, in urine, of diagnostic as well as prognostic value in tuberculosis.

In studying the question of serum diagnosis of tuberculosis in this hospital, we have had a number of cases in which positive serum findings were the only symptoms of possible infection, all other data, except the Von Pirquet test, speaking against tuberculosis. We naturally thought of the possibility of controlling such positive findings with other tests. Since, according to the authors cited above, the presence of neutral sulfur in urine is of high diagnostic value, we compared our serological findings, in a number of cases, with those obtained in the examination of the urines.

From the very nature of the test for neutral sulfur, it is evident that it cannot be specific for tuberculosis; on the contrary, it is quite constant in typhoid, for instance. In order to introduce the necessary corrections in the final results, we decided to ascertain, by first examining at random a number of cases, what conditions, besides those of tuberculosis and typhoid, favor the occurrence of an excess of neutral sulfur in the urine.

TECHNIC AND RESULTS. In the preliminary examinations, as well as in the later ones, both the Ehrlich and the Weiss procedures were used in parallel tests.

Diazo test. The reagents for this test, consisting of (a) 0.5 percent sol. of sodium nitrite and (b) a sol. of 5 gm. of sulfanilic acid in 50 c.c. of conc. hydrochloric acid sol. diluted to 1000 c.c. with distilled water, are kept in separate stocks. Of these reagents, 50 parts of the sulfanilic acid sol. and I of the sodium nitrite sol. are freshly mixed for use in the test.

An equal volume of this freshly mixed reagent is added to 5 c.c. of urine and, after shaking, an excess of strong ammonium hydroxid sol. is added. In the case of a positive reaction, both the fluid and the foam turn red.

Moritz Weiss test. To 5 c.c. of urine 10 c.c. of water are added, in order to reduce the intensity of the color. This dilute urine is then treated with 3 drops of 0.1 percent sol. of potassium permanganate. In the presence of an excess of neutral sulfur, a deep yellow color appears. The reaction is very delicate, but the reading is often made difficult by the deep yellow color of certain specimens of urine, and also because a number of normal urines become more yellowish after addition of permanganate.

In the first group of tests, 172 cases were examined at random, irrespective of clinical diagnosis or history. The comparative results are given in Table 1.

TABLE I

Data pertaining to the diazo and Weiss tests for neutral sulfur in normal and

1 Including appendicitis, salpingitis, pus tubes, etc.
2 Included under "normal" are conditions in which there is a certain degree

of systemic disturbance, e. g., fractures, hernia, burns, concussions, etc.

It is evident, from the data in Table 1, that over 20 percent of the cases taken at random in the hospital gave positive tests for neutral sulfur in the urine. In order to determine the diagnostic