Selected monographs.

Date:: 1888

Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Selected monographs. Source: Wellcome Collection.

84/440 (page 68)

pressure to which they are subjected ; in that case the filtra- tion would become almost normal; or if the preponderance o£ pressure within the vessels increased^ the resulting filtrate would contain more water and would be poorer in albumen. There is also the possibility that, the secretion by the gland- ular epithelium being continuous and actively carried on, the predominance of pressure might become so decided in the uriniferoua tubules that the fluid of the capsules might take a backward course, and that absorption might go on until the internal and external pressures became equalised. There is no doubt that the secretory epithelium of the uriniferous tubules continues to possess and exhibit its secre- toi-y activity after the ureter is occluded. That this is so is positively shown by the increasing fullness of the uriniferous tubules, the great dilatation of the lymphatic channels depending upon the pouring into them of secretion not removed in the ordinary way, and by the behaviour of other glands under similar circumstances. It is, however, another question whether the secretion is altogether normal in char- acter, and in particular whether it is free from albumen as is normally the case. The liver is the only organ which could be used to assist in deciding this question, but, so far as I know, no investigations have been made upon its secretion after tying its excretory ducts. But the albuminous deposit which I found in the uriniferous tubules after a ligature had been kept on the ureter for a brief interval (see p. 63), it being impossible that the albumen can have got there by escaping from the capsules, is evidence in favour of the supposition that the real secretion of the epithelium contains albumen, as might be expected with regard to every cedema- tous gland. It is, therefore, highly probable that both the glomerular vessels and the interstitial vascular and lymphatic systems participate in the production of the albuminuria that ensues after the impediment is removed. When the escape of venous blood is prevented without interfering with the arterial supply, the circumstances, first and foremost, with regard to the blood-pressure, are very different from those which obtain in the other two kinds of congestion, and especially in that caused by tying the artery. When the supply is cut off, the pressure in the capillaries