Gout : its pathology and treatment / by Arthur P. Luff.

  • Arthur P. Luff
Date:
1898
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Gout : its pathology and treatment / by Arthur P. Luff. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    acid compound acts as a chemical poison. That this view is untenable is evident when it is remembered that uric acid is deposited as the sodium biurate, and, as will be shown later {see pp. 137—139), the solubility of this body in a fluid medium is not heightened by an increased alkalinity of that medium. URIC ACID NOT A POISON. Sir William Roberts* argues that the accept- ance of the theory that uric acid possesses a toxic action is difficult for the following two reasons:— (1) That there is no direct experimental proof that uric acid is a toxic agent; and (2) that although the fluids of the body of a gouty man, on the eve of an outbreak of acute gout, are impregnated with sodium biurate to saturation, yet such a person does not show any signs of poisoning, but enjoys complete immunity from toxic symptoms until the sudden advent of the arthritic attack. Another fact which is strongly opposed to the view that uric acid is a toxic agent is that in cases of leucocythsemia and severe anaemia the blood is frequently highly charged with uric acid in the form of sodium quadriurate without the production of any toxic symptoms that could be referred to the uric acid compound. ALLOXUIl BASES REGARDED AS THE POISON OF GOUT. Kolischf considers that some antecedents or allies of uric acid are responsible for the toxic * (Jroonian Lectures : Uric Acid Gravel and Gout, 1892. t Wiener klinische Wochenschrift, 1895, p. 787.