ABSTRACT
Charles Richet attributed his "abhorrence of war" to the influence of his grandfather, Charles Renouard, who had been a determined and vocal opponent of the Napoleonic Wars. Richet and Andre Weiss were welcomed in Italy and felt that their words had had some influence. At Bologna Richet was enthusiastically received by a large audience of students and faculty from the university. Richet sought the help of the physicist and fellow Nobel laureate Gabriel Lippman who adapted the idea to a workable system. A very brilliant wartime invention of Richet's was a highly practical combination between a life vest and a wet suit that protected the wearer against cold and against drowning. Richet calculated the depth of shock in the wounded from the ratio of urea nitrogen to total nitrogen in the urine. A low ratio indicated a poor prognosis since, in severe shock; the liver is unable to synthesize the nitrogen containing waste product, urea.
