Spectrophotometric study of the excretion products of mepacrine compared with synthetic acridine and diphenylamine derivatives.

course similar to that of the other tissues during the first 8-10 days, but after that time until the premortal stage a residue persists which gives the Roe & Kuether reaction and which reduces indophenol. 5. Scurvy develops in guinea-pigs when the curve of the ascorbic acid tissue concentration reaches asymptotic values for long periods of depletion, and there is no definite correlation between the tissue content and the appearance of scorbutic lesions. 6. A high proportion of the ascorbic acid which is fixed by the tissues of saturated guinea-pigs and lost during the first few days of depletion on a scorbutic diet does not act aa a store of vitamin C for protection against scurvy. 7. It is concluded that the first appearance of a continuous elimination of ascorbic acid by the kidney of man is a result of 'supersaturation', the true saturation dose being lower than that ascertained by observation of urinary excretion, and consequently the elimination of ascorbic acid by the kidney is in all probability the extreme expression of overdosage. It is also suggested that, owing to the highly efficient gastric absorption of ascorbic acid by man, no advantage is gained under ordinary circumstances by parenteral rather than oral medication. 8. The specificity ofthe Roe & Kuether method as applied in this investigation is discussed.