On Dropsy Connected with Disease of the Kidneys (Morbus Brightii); And on Some Other Diseases of Those Organs, Associated with Albuminous and Purulent - Softcover

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This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1858. Excerpt: ... CHAPTER IV. RELATION OP SCARLET FEVER TO RENAL DROPSY. In considering the several forms of renal disease connected 'with dropsy and albuminous urine, and in tracing the character of the cell degeneration which marks their progress, it will be most convenient to commence with the simplest form, that in which the inflammatory origin of the disease is the most manifest, and in which, in fatal cases, the cell transformation is most apparent and most readily demonstrated. The early stage of these cases is marked by the presence of blood in the urine, either visible to the unaided eye or recognised by the microscope. It cannot be doubted that the dropsy which follows scarlet fever exhibits all the characteristics of an inflammatory origin. It is ushered in by a secondary febrile attack, with evidence of renal engorgement. In unfavorable and fatal cases a rapid destruction of epithelial cell-structure is apparent, accompanied by the exudation of an inflammatory product, which accumulates in the uriniferous tubes and Malpighian bodies, increases the size and weight of the organs, and developes all the conditions recognised as characteristic of the sub-acute form of morbus Brightii. The examination of the urinary sediment from time to time in these cases will furnish information of the nature of the process going forward in the kidneys; and, from the evidence which the microscope supplies, a favorable or unfavorable opinion may be formed with great precision and certainty. Careful attention to the material thrown off from the kidneys will, I think, satisfactorily prove that the foretoken of danger is the appearance of degraded or atrophic cells, rather than the desquamation of epithelial structures in the form of granular epithelial casts. For so long as the epith...