We found that optimal conditions for the beryllium transformation test required the use of purified lymphocyte suspensions in 20% human serum, with beryllium sulphate at concentrations of 10^––6 to 10^––7M. Using these conditions, all 15 chronic beryllium patients tested gave a stimulation index of more than 2. Despite the above, 10^––5 and 10^––6M, BeSO4 inhibited spontaneous thymidine incorporation and lymphocyte transformation to PHA and PPD in normal subjects. Alternative methods, using whole blood, venous and thumb-prick samples, gave fewer and less reproducible positive results.

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AIPRIL 2, 19271CHOLECYSTOGRAPHY. X XTB3R BnJmQ svmptoms have been markedly reduced and the radiographic results no less valuable, if not quite so striking. An injection of 4 grams for a stout subject and 3 grams for one of slender build, in each case dissolved in 40 to 60 e.cm. of distilled water, may be reckoned a perfectly safe dose. We have been unable to recognize any particular benefit from special preparation, or from the regular dosage with alkalis, which was followed scrupulously iu our earlier cases. We have as yet had no opportunity to test the newer drug,. phenol-tetra-iodo-phthalein, which, in Graham's clinic, is found to be less toxic than the tetraiodo-phenol-phthalein. Concliusions.Cholecystography is a method of real clinical value in the diagnosis of diseases of the gall bladder. Not only does it show whether the gall bladder is functioning, but also how well or how' ill it is functioning. It will frequently disclose the presence of gall stones which do not show in the ordinary radiogram. It may, by showing the relation-of the gall bladder to an abdominal tumour, give strong presumptive evidence as to the site of the growth and the possibilities of surgical treatment.Using pure sodium tetra-iodo-phenol-phthalein in a dose not exceeding 4 grams, freshly dissolved, and injected intravenously very slowly, no disturbing toxic symptoms need be feared. X-ray films made twelve hours after .injection and six hours later, after a meal containing fat, should give reliable evidence as to the functional capacity of the gall bladder.The method has its limitations, and an apparently normal cholecystogram does not exclude the possible presence of a small cholesterin stone or mild degrees of infective cholecystitis.

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As has been said, cases of dropsy from mitral regurgitation very 'often recover in hospital. The patients, belonginig to a class the members of which have to earn their bread, must work hard and undergo Lexposure, and are frequently subject to hardships and privations. It is' under such unfavourable influences that the compensation breaks down, and the reversal of these is often of itself sufficient for recovery. Similar results are furnished by private practice, examples being related. On the other hand, a gentleman of strong build, who had suffered very little inconvenience from mitral regurgitation, established fourteen years before, but in whom extensive dilatation and hypertrophy indicated considerable reflux, began, after a little overwork, to suffer from cotgh and dyspncea, which was soon followed by cedema of the legs, and the equilibrium, thus easily overturned, was never regained.