The present study was stimulated by the thought that allergy is, in great part, a disturbance of electrolyte metabolism. Analogy could be drawn between demonstrated electrolyte disturbances in other diseases, such as thyroid disease (iodide), parathyroid disease (calcium), Addison's disease (sodium and potassium) and the potassium alterations that have been described in diabetes. Cook and Stoesser1treated asthmatic children with "salt-free" diets and injections of pitressin and found that, in spite of the antidiuretic action of the pitressin, there was an increased, rather than a decreased, excretion of the sodium ion and that with this there was a distinct relief of the asthma. In one patient asthma was seemingly reinduced by the administration of a large dose of sodium chloride. This experimental work also suggests the importance of the water balance in asthma, comparable to its importance2in Addison's disease. Clinically, Piness3has stressed the importance of