Volume 63 · Issue 5-6 · 1944

One of the most disastrous effects of syphilis is seen in the involvement of the central nervous system. This is especially dread- ful in the late stage when the patient may be killed or incapacitated, affecting not only his own life and health but also financially burden- ing his family and the society at large. The ultimate prognosis of early neurosypbilis is not bright either, unless energetic and adequate treatment is instituted, as it has been shown that early neuraxis involvement is the forerunner of degenerative parenchymatous neu- rosyphilis (1, 2).

Clothing is intimately concerned with the preservation of our bodily heat loss. As our body is constantly producing heat from the internal organs as well as losing heat to the surrounding environ. ment, it is essential to regulate the heat loss to the environment at a physiological balance between the production and loss of our body heat At lower temperature ranges, the ultimate aim to regulate body heat loss is to conserve the warmth of our body. On the other hand, when the environmental temperature approaching that of our body, the immediate task is to keep the body heat loss at a maximum, that is, to keep the body cool at a definite rate, so that the balance of heat production and heat loss is maintained.

Under the present situation when laboratory supplies are much limited, any modification of the standard rriethods aiming at the economizing of both time and material while retaining the original accuracy and usefulness is not only justifiable but also much welcome, In this communication we present our experience with 5,000 Kolmer's complement fixation tests carried out with modified procedures which have proved to be very satisfactory and economical. It is hoped that these modifications may also be of value to those interested in general hospital laboratory work.

Among the common causes of edema, which may be attributed to dietary deficiency, there are: (1) vitamin B 1 deficiency resulting in the so-called wet beriberi and (2) protein deficiency resulting in the so-called nutritional edema.

Congenital solitary cyst of kidney has been considered to be of rare occurrence. Up to the present not a single case in children has been reported in the Chinese.literature. In 1938 Fang (1) collected only .two cases in a 15-year period from 1925 t0 1938, both of which occurred in foreign adults. In either case the size of the kidney was not large enough to arouse the patient's attention and the affected kidney was found to be enlarged only during roul:ine physical exa- mination.

V. Y. H., Hosp. No. 1221, Chinese, housewife, age 21, native of Ningpo, Chekiang, admitted to the Sze-Ming Hospital on August 7, 1942, complaining of pain and a mass over the Jower abdomen with profuse bleedjng from the vagina.