Bright's disease of the kidney / by Alfred L. Loomis.

  • Loomis Alfred L. (Alfred Lebbeus), 1831-1895.
Date:
1888
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Bright's disease of the kidney / by Alfred L. Loomis. 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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    functional and organic, in other organs, especially the liver and blood. Putting aside acute Bright’s, we have to recognize that both' parenchymatous and cirrhotic kidney are often the local manifestations of a more general disease, and that the renal change is the evidence of an excessive functional activity, which has been developed as a conservative process and has be- come converted into a pathological condition second- arily. Without entering upon a discussion of the aetiology of Bright’s disease in] particular, or even at- tempting a resume of the discussion upon this point, we think it may be stated generally and as covering the point in question, that cases of Bright’s disease which are chronic from their inception will be found to develop in two classes of subjects. ist. Those suffering from the fibroid diathesis in whom all forms of irritation tend to the induction of fibroid inflammation, not only under stimulation, which in other individuals would produce only healthy nutri- tive activity, but even in what would otherwise be con- sidered purely physiological conditions. 2d. Those in whom, either through an inherited or acquired functional weakness of the organs of direct and retro- grade metabolism, or on account of intemperance in food or drink, the kidneys are for a long time called upon to eliminate both an excessive quantity of the normal elements of excretion and products of faulty metabolism. Since tastes, habits and moral qualities are inherited equally with physical defects, we often