To the Editor:—
In a paper on Neuritis by Cobb and Coggeshall in The Journal, November 24, the subject of triorthocresyl phosphate polyneuritis is discussed. The following references are cited by the authors for this type of neuritis on page 1615:Vonderahe, A. R.: Pathologic Changes in Paralysis Caused by Drinking Jamaica Ginger, Arch. Neurol. & Psychiat. 25:29 (Jan.) 1931.
Merritt, H. H., and Moore, M.: New England J. Med. 203:4 (July) 1930.
Mella, Hugo: A Preliminary Report on the Treatment of Paralysis Agitans, Arch. Neurol. & Psychiat. 7: 137 (Jan.) 1922.
Smith, M. I., and Elvove, Elias: Pub. Health Rep. 45: 1703 (July 25) 1930.
The reference to Mella's paper is obviously an oversight or typographic error, for this report deals with arsenic and not triorthocresyl phosphate, which, so far as I have been able to ascertain, was not known to medical science until 1930.Neither Vonderahe nor Merritt