PORPHYRIN CONTENT OF BONE MARROW AND LIVER IN THE VARIOUS FORMS OF PORPHYRIA

THE CLASSIFICATION of porphyria in the past has depended almost entirely on clinical features. Thus, Günther divided the disease into acute, chronic, and congenital forms, the acute being characterized by episodes of abdominal and/or nervous manifestations; the chronic, by late appearance of photosensitivity with or without abdominal and nervous symptoms, and the congenital by early photosensitivity.¹ Waldenström substituted the term "cutanea tarda" for the chronic form and subdivided the acute cases into several types, solely on the basis of clinical features.² Micheli's classification was also a clinical one.³ There has actually been no other basis for classification, owing to the lack of exact information as to the pathogenesis of porphyria and to the site of origin of the porphyrins in the various forms of the disease. The literature contains altogether too few data on the porphyrins of the various tissues to permit any judgment as to whether