BLOOD REACTION AND BLOOD GASES IN PNEUMONIA

Abstract

Peabody in 1912 (1) published a paper on the metabolism in pneu-monia, in which he reviewed the previous literature and studied among other factors the blood gases and acid-base balance. Since Peabody, a number of other investigators have studied the blood gases and the question of the existence and importance of acidosis in pneumonia. The present paper is a report of observations on these subjects, in which recently developed methods have made possible the attain-ment of more complete results and apparently have justified the draw-ing of deductions more definite in some respects than those attain-able from previous data. Peabody stated that "the high excretion of ammonia and the low excretion of sodium chloride are two of the most characteristic features of the urine during fever. The diminution of the carbon dioxide of the blood is apparently a constant accompaniment of fever. " These results indicated a shift of some degree towards acidosis in the acid-base balance, but whether it was sufficient to be of clinical