A recent series of articles in another journal has detailed the methods and the major results of our studies of lead absorption and lead poisoning during the past ten years.1 So far as they are concerned with normal lead absorption and excretion, the results may be summarized briefly as follows: 1. Two groups of native Mexican Indians, whose mode of life and environment were devoid of opportunities for contact with the lead-containing products of highly organized and industrialized populations, were found to have lead in their blood and to excrete lead in their feces and urine, as a consequence of the occurrence of lead in the soil and hence in vegetation and animal products employed as food. 2. Various groups of healthy children and adults in the United States, with no occupational exposure, were shown to have lead in their tissues and in their excreta, chiefly because of regular