THE DIAGNOSIS OF DIABETES' BY VT' kNQ OF THE BLOOD.—Bremer, aS we hare already mentioned above, has. found that the red corpuscles of diabetic blood cannot be stained with aniline colors in the same way as the blood-corpuscles of the normal blood. The latter are dis tinctly acidop11;lous, while in ti-e dia betic blood they become basifolailous; they no longer take up eosin, the pre ferred color of the normal blood-cor puscles.
This reaction, which Bremer has sub ;:ected to several variations, is of great importance in cases in which a diabetic patient, who haS no actual suzar in_ his urine, wishes to con_ceal his disease from the physician of an insurance company. I: is important to know, how.eyer, that this reaction. is, as Breraer has stated, independent of the zlucose, not pathoz nomonic of diabetes. may, also, take place in the corpuscles of blood.
(1-pine and I-yonr_ez..) See COMTLICA TIONS.
Bremer's test of the blood of diabetics modined by etainir.g. two minute; in a 2-ier-c-ent. methylene-blue solution and then ten seconds in a 25-per-cent. eosin solution. This reaction was obtained in the blood. in ail case; of diabetics whose urine contained more than 2 per c-ent. oi sugar. Loewy Fort. der Med.. Mar..
.
Reaction of diabetie blood may be ob tained as follows: 4 cubic millimetres of water are 'laced in the bottom of a ;mall. narrow, test-tube. To thi5 are added 20 cutie millimetres ef blood. 1 cubic eer.zimerre of a watery so-Lition of methylene-blue 1 to 6000 ar.d 40 cubie millimetre; of liquor potassx. The test tube is then Ilac-ed in boiling water for four minutes. at the end of which time, if the blood is diabetic. the blue color of the mixture will have disaTpeared and a dirty-yellow color will have taken its place. The reacticn has been obtained in all of forty-three cases of diabetes. R. T. WilliancEon (Lancet, Aug. 4, 1900..
Etiology.—Statis.zics referrinz to thou sands of cases show that diabetes is most prevalent between the azes of 53 and. 60
years.
Age is usually regarded as a factor in the etiolog.y, and, at-cording to a per sonal analysis of 2115 cases, the period of its greatest frequency extends between 30 and 60 years of life .the greatest number fall between 50 and GO of any of the decades.. Diabetes mellitus pre vails to a much greater extent in some localities than in others: for example, in Malta it is a scourge of greater sever ity even than tuberculosis is in Germany. It is common in Sweden, and very fre quent among. Jews, wherever they may live. tsehinitz ,Berliner kiln. Woch., July 6. '91..
probable, however, in view- of the freauently ex-perienced in de termining the exact or.set of the disea-se, that it often bezins before the aze of 50. The disease is: relatively rare in child hood. 2Co cases were known in which the disease existed in early childhood verr recently (durinz the DaSt few rears when several cases hare been pub lished.
One hundred and :seventeen cases in children collected. The disease is not near so rare in children aE has been ecm.rnonly supposed. As to sex. of the 11; cases. 4; were females. 31 male-s; of the remainder. the sex was not de terminable. The proponion of males to female,. was 5 to 3. As to the a",e 6 were found under 1 year, 1 seerninz to be born with it. as it was noted a few days after birth: ; were over 1 year. 3 over 2 years. 7 over 3 years. 6 over 4 years. 5 over 5 years. 1 over 6 years. .6 over 7 years. and 2 eases had comr.lezed S years: S were 9 years old. 6 were 10 years. t) were 11 years. s were 12 years, 9 were 13 years. 5 were 14 years. 4 were 15 years old. Of the re maining. 2S the age was not given. The children az peared genera:ly of the better class. As to the etiolos7. heredity was conspicuous, since tbe parents were often diabetic. Next to heredity-, previously existing disease was found; the most fre quent cause was notably gastric catarrh. C. Stern (Archiv f. Kinderb., 13. 11, H. 2, '89).