THOMAS ADDISON'S clinical description of "idiopathic" anemia reveals so many manifestations identical to those encountered by him in disease of the suprarenal capsules¹ that his failure to differentiate the two disorders clearly in his preliminary report in 1849² can readily be understood. That temporary adrenal insufficiency might be present in pernicious anemia in relapse was suggested a decade ago by the observations of Strauss and Fox,³ who noted: "... this behavior with regard to water and sodium exhibited by patients with Addisonian pernicious anemia is not unlike that shown by patients with Addison's disease of the suprarenal capsules."

The purpose . . .