It has been recognized for a considerable period of time that aside from a marked increase in the nonprotein nitrogen constituents of the blood, a definite lowering of the blood chloride is characteristic of acute mercuric chloride poisoning. In 1915 Woods1 observed a lowering of the blood chloride in a case of mercuric chloride poisoning. Similar observations have been made by Lewis and Rivers,2 Campbell,3 Killian,4 Sunderman, Austin and Camack5 and Trusler, Fisher and Richardson.6 The last mentioned workers also noted marked hypochloremia in dogs given mercuric chloride. Sunderman, Austin and Camack,5 in their case of mercuric chloride poisoning, observed in addition to a lowering of chloride a decrease in the serum total base. This has also been the observation of Peters7 and Bruckman.
During the last five years it has been possible to make a study of the acid-base balance of the serum in eleven cases of mercuric chloride