Abstract
The senior author has demonstrated repeatedly the presence of a specific toxin in the blood of pernicious anemia, which is not found in the blood serum of any other form of anemia, and is therefore of diagnostic interest as well as of value in following the results of various therapeutic procedures. 1 Later studies by Macht have revealed that a similar specific phytotoxic reaction is exhibited by spinal fluid from pernicious anemia patients, as compared with normal human spinal fluid. 2 This was found to be of value in differentiating neurological complications of pernicious anemia from similar cases of different etiology. Employing Macht's phytopharmaco-logical methods, the authors made a systematic study of 125 patients in respect to toxicity of their stomach washings for the growth of living seedlings of Lupinus albus. A uniform procedure or technique was employed. A patient's stomach was washed in the morning, before food was taken, with 100 cc. of distilled water. The hydrogen ion concentration of the pumped-out fluid was then determined and the phytotoxic index was obtained. A 2% solution of the washing in each case was made in a standard plant-physiological solution and the growth of the straight, well-defined roots of Lupinus albus seedlings in the dark at a temperature of 20°C. for 24 hours was carefully measured. A comparison of these with control seedlings, grown under exactly the same conditions, was then made, and the effect of the washings, expressed as a phytotoxic index or percentage of growth in terms of the normal controls, was determined.
The average phytotoxic index obtained from stomach washings of 100 normal patients was found to be 86%. The lowest reading was 86%, while the highest was 100%. Stomach washings from cases of carcinoma showed no difference in toxicity as compared with normal subjects.
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