Bright's disease and allied affections of the kidneys / by Charles W. Purdy.

  • Purdy Charles W. (Charles Wesley), 1846-1901.
Date:
1886
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Bright's disease and allied affections of the kidneys / by Charles W. Purdy. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh. The original may be consulted at the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh.

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    Albumin of the blood or tissues may, in consequence of certain morbid changes resulting from inflammation, infective fevers, etc., become subject to alterations through which as one of the results peptone is formed as a retrograde step of metamorphosis, and if so, it is thrown out by the kidneys, and peptonuria is the result. That such alteration is conceivable, as Senator writes {Albu- minuria in Health and Disease), appears more clear from the fact that we are taught by recent observations to the effect that no such sharp distinction exists between albuminous substances proper, and peptones, as we were formerly disposed to believe . . . .; recent investi- gations have likewise shown that the conversion of albu- minous substances into peptone takes place gradually, and in stages, certain intermediate or transitional products being formed, and at least one such product is clearly recog- nized, analogous in some respects to albumin, and in others to peptone, viz., hemi-albumose. From the fact that these intermediate modifications of albumin possess a clinical significance which points rather to morbid conditions outside of, than in the kidneys them- selves, they do not demand more minute consideration here. , 11 • • Causes.—It is generally accepted that renal albummuna arises from four causes: {a) alterations in the blood-pres- sure [b) changes in the vascular tunics, [c] degeneration of the renal epithelium, [d) alterations in the composition of the blood. The slighter degrees of albuminuria are often due to alterations in blood-pressure, such as increase of the arterial flow. As such conditions depend chiefly upon circumstances which are often transient, albuminuria from this cause is often transient as well as slight. Mus- cular exercise calls for increased cardiac power,'which in turn raises arterial tension even twenty to twenty-five per