NON-GOUTY POLYARTHRITIS (PRATT). ---------------------------+----------+-----------------------+---------- |Milligrams| |Milligrams | of | | of |uric acid | |uric acid | in 100 | | in 100 | gms. of | | gms. of | blood. | | blood. ---------------------------+----------+-----------------------+---------- McC. Chronic polyarthritis.| 1·7 |24 hours after eating | 2·2 Purin-free diet. | | 100 grams of thymus. | M. Chronic polyarthritis. | 2·0 |24 hours after eating | 1·8 Ordinary diet. | | 225 grams of thymus. | H. Chronic polyarthritis. | 2·9 |47 hours after eating | 2·5 Ordinary diet. | | 190 grams of thymus. | | --- | | --- Average | 2·1 | Average | 2·2 ---------------------------+----------+-----------------------+---------- As Pratt points out, if the figures in the two tables be compared, it will be seen that, prior to the sweetbread meal, the average uric acid content of the blood in the gouty and the non-gouty patients was identical. But twenty-four hours to three days, after the purin intake, the average uric acid content of the blood in the _gouty_ was 5·1 mg., while in the _non-gouty_ subjects it was only 2·2 mg.; in other words, in the five gouty individuals a pronounced hyper-uricæmia was produced from one to three days after a purin meal. On the other hand, in the _non-gouty_ subjects the uric acid content was found to be practically unaltered twenty-four to forty-eight hours after the same purine intake. It would seem, therefore, that some _diagnostic_ importance may be attached to the _hyper-uricæmia_ that is induced in _gouty_ subjects after exogenous purines, as compared with its non-occurrence in non-gouty subjects.