It is quite possible that endemic centres [of skeletal fluorosis] exist but that the cause of the disabling spondylitis or other joint affections has not been determined, and a diagnosis of chronic arthritis has resulted. Few cases in Canada or the United States will be found to be as dramatic as that recorded here from Southwest China, but by calling attention to the advanced stage of this condition help may be afforded to the diagnosis of early cases.
... During our anthropological studies
Front Page of Article
IN the summer of 1938 one of us (F. B.) was called in by veterinary practitioners to advise on the possible causation of a "mysterious lameness of cattle" near Stewartby, in Bedfordshire. Clinical examination and proximity to a large concentration of brick kilns suggested " industrial fluorosis" of the type described early in the century by Bartolucci (1912), in association with a superphosphate factory in Italy, and this diagnosis was quickly confirmed by pathological and
First Page of Study
Since the investigation of Black an,d McKay in 1916 into the problem of mottled enamel, and the definite association of this anomaly with the fluorine content of drinking waters by Churchill (1931, 1932), the matter of fluorine intoxication has been studied in detail by different workers in various parts of the World. It has been shown that this mottling of the enamel occurs only if the fluorine content of the water is above 2 to 3 mg. per litre (Smith and Smith, 1932) or, a
FIRST PAGE OF PAPER
All animal tissues and plants contain fluorine in very small amounts. It is found in soils, rocks and water.
No convincing evidence has been as yet produced to show that it performs any useful function in animal nutrition, or that it is essential for animal metabolism. During the past 15 years, however, evidence has been accumulated to show that the prolonged ingestion of abnormal quantities produces a chronic toxic state, the earliest visible sign of which is called 'mot
