A spectrographic investigation of the metallic content of the liver in childhood

Abstract

This paper describes the results of an investigation into the metallic content of the human liver during intra-uterine life and childhood, carried out by the spectrographic method of analysis described by Ramage (1929). A total of 111 children's livers, varying in age from birth to 12yars, and 14 fœtal livers, were examined. Of these, 100 specimens were obtained from the post-mortem room of the greatly indebted to the medical staff of the Hospital for Sick Children, Great Ormond Street, London, and we are greatly indebted to the medical staff of the Hospital for allowing us to make use of this material, Wolverhampton, and to the Birmingham and Midland Hospital for Women, for fœtal specimens. Every liver was weighted at the post-mortem after removal of the gall-bladder, and a small piece was taken for analysis and weighted. It was then dried to constant weight in a steam oven, and the spectrum obtained by burning in ashless filter paper a weighted amount (usually 0∙025 gm. or 0∙25 gm.) in an oxy-coal gas flame with a silica burner, before the slit of quartz spectrograph. A quantitative estimation was made by comparing the intensities of the lines so obtained with those derived from burning in a similar manner varying amounts of a standard solution. The standard solution had the same composition as that employed in a previous analysis of human tissues (Sheldon and Ramage, 1931).