The Presence of the Asbestos Fibre in the Lesions of Asbestos Workers (1929)

This 1929 report described a short laboratory search for asbestos in the body during life. The author first examined ground Cape (blue fibrous) asbestos by dark-ground illumination. Fibres were then found in workers' skin "asbestos corns" and in mouth and nose samples from two operatives recently at work. Those two had no sputum, so sputum came from six cases out of the factory for some time for medical reasons; three contained fibres, three did not. Fibres were also found in lung sections from one case of pulmonary asbestosis, examined after death. In injected guinea-pigs, fibres were readily seen, and foreign body giant cells were prominent at a subcutaneous injection site. So-called "curious bodies" were not found in raw asbestos, corns, nose swabs, mouth washes or sputum but were plentiful in that lung. When these bodies were dissolved with acid, asbestos fibres were revealed inside them. The author concluded these bodies derive from asbestos fibres and suggested the name "asbestos bodies". Citing those giant cells, the author also advised demonstrating tubercle bacilli in human lung sections before assuming tuberculosis complicates pulmonary asbestosis.

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From J-M's medical library

This copy comes from the Johns-Manville medical library. It was among the papers J-M kept in its medical library without an index entry.