The Pathological Anatomy of Hydrazine

In a recent article in the Journal of Biological Chemistry 2 is reported a study of the influence of hydrazine upon the intermediary metabolism in the dog, by Professor F. P. Underhill and I. S. Kleiner, in which it is shown that although this poison produces extensive anatomical alterations in the liver of dogs, yet it causes little change in the partition of urinary nitrogen and sulphur, beyond that due to the starvation from which animals poisoned with this drug suffer as they always refuse food while under the influence of the drug. During these studies tissues from the poisoned dogs were kindly placed at my disposal by Professor Underhill for histological examination, and I also poisoned and examined the tissues of a few other dogs, as well as of cats and guinea pigs. A summary of the results of this histological study has been included in the article mentioned, but it has seemed that the histological changes observed are so remarkable and of such importance that they deserve a somewhat more extensive description and consideration. Hydrazine, N H ~ NH2, is not a substance that is likely to become so commonly used that it will be of general toxicological importance, although the phenyl derivative, phenyl hydrazine, has long been known to have sometimes had poisonous effects upon those who have used it extensively in studying sugars by the methods devised by Emil Fischer. However, the lesions produced by hydrazine are of such a nature that this drug promises to have a field of usefulness in certain metabolic and pathologic investiga-