and the development of phthisis as far as possible guarded against. The presence of these small tubercles in the ureter, if none are present or no ulceration exists in the kidney, are of little or no local importance. Inflammation of the ureter often exists in connection with cystitis and pyelitis, and in fact constitutes the means by which the higher urinary passages become gradually involved in the diseases below. The DIAGNOSIS of this condition as a distinct disease is hardly possible, and is besides unnecessary, as the treatment to be directed thereto would be included in that called for by the more extensive and obvious inflammation of the kidney and bladder. DISEASES OF THE PARENCHYMA OF THE KIDNEYS, AND PERINEPHRITIS. BY FRANCIS DELAFIELD, M. D. CHRONIC CONGESTION OF THE KIDNEY. SYNONYMS.-Passive congestion; Cyanotic induration. It is now generally recognized that we must separate from the other forms of kidney disease the condition of chronic congestion. Since Traube first called attention to the causation and characters of this lesion, all authors have recognized its special character, although there are still minor differences of opinion concerning it. ETIOLOGY.-Chronic congestion of the kidney may be produced by any mechanical cause which interferes with the escape of the blood from the renal veins. Thrombi of the veins, tumors pressing on the veins, emphysema of the lungs, hydro-pneumothorax, pericarditis,—all may produce this lesion. As to how often it is produced by the pregnant uterus is still a question. But the most common cause of all is organic disease of the heart. Practically, the lesion comes under consideration as a complication of heart disease, of aneurism of the arch of the aorta, and of emphysema of the lungs. LESIONS.-If the congestion has not existed for a long time, we find the kidneys increased in size and their weight great in proportion to their size. They are of an unnatural hardness- -a hardness which can be imitated by injecting the blood-vessels of a normal kidney with water. The capsules are not adherent, the surfaces of the kidneys are smooth. Both the cortical and pyramidal portions are congested, and this congestion gives the entire organs a peculiar reddish, livid color. No lesions are found in the Malpighian bodies, tubes, stroma, or blood-vessels, except that the epithelium of the convoluted tubes may be a little swollen. If the congestion has lasted for a longer time, the kidneys may continue to be large or they may be somewhat reduced in size; the weight remains out of proportion to the size. There are the same unnatural color and consistence. The capsules are now often slightly adherent and the surfaces of the kidneys finely nodular. In the cortex there may be patches of new connective tissue enclosing atrophied tubules, or there may be a more diffuse growth of connective tissue separating the tubes from each other. In the convoluted tubules the epithelial cells may be swollen and finely granular, or very much swollen and coarsely granular, so as to nearly fill the tubes, or flattened so that the cavities of the tubes are unnaturally large. The tubes may also contain cast-matter and detached and broken epithelial cells. The capsules of the Malpighian bodies may little thickened and the capsular endothelium swollen. In the pyramids the epithelium of the straight tubes may be granular and detached, and there is often cast-matter in the looped tubes. It is difficult to tell whether there is any real change in the veins of the kidney. As a result of the same interference with the venous circulation, similar changes are found in other parts of the body-in the lungs, liver, spleen, stomach, small intestine, and pia mater. In all these organs there is, first, simply a venous congestion, then after a time structural changes are added. Formation of new connective tissue and of new functional cells of the particular organ, degeneration of these cells, dilatation and tortuousness of the small veins and capillaries, are regularly present. The kidney lesion, therefore, is only one of a number of lesions, all dependent on a common mechanical cause. SYMPTOMS. Of the persons who die with chronic congestion of the kidney, a large number present marked symptoms during life, but it is difficult to determine how largely these symptoms are due to the congestion of the kidney. A congestion of the kidney of only a few days' duration does not seem usually to give rise to any symptoms. Even if such a congestion is prolonged to two or three weeks, as we see in some cases of hydropneumothorax from perforation of the lung, there may be no renal symptoms and no changes in the urine. On the other hand, it is extremely rare for organic heart disease or emphysema of the lungs to prove fatal without some disease of the kidneys. The question is still further complicated by the fact that both in cardiac disease and emphysema there may be either chronic congestion of the kidney or chronic diffuse nephritis with the same symptoms. After excluding the cases of cardiac hypertrophy secondary to kidney disease and the cardiac diseases with complications, I find in my casebooks 137 cases in which the patients died simply from heart disease, changes in the viscera due to the disturbance of the venous circulation, and kidney disease. Of these cases, 84 presented the lesions of chronic diffuse nephritis; 53 were in the state of chronic congestion. Of the cases of chronic diffuse nephritis, 27 were large white kidneys, 29 atrophied kidneys, 28 could not be classed as either large white or atrophied. In these cases there existed during life certain regular symptoms. There were changes in the urine, dropsy, headache, delirium, convulsions, coma, dyspnoea, vomiting, cough, hæmoptysis, loss of flesh and strength. As regards the quantity of the urine, there was a very great variety until shortly before the patient's death; then the urine was usually diminished in amount, sometimes suppressed. A very marked decrease in the amount of urine was more constant in the cases of chronic diffuse nephritis than in those of chronic congestion. But in several cases both of chronic diffuse nephritis and of chronic congestion the patients passed from thirty to forty ounces of urine up to the time of their deaths. Albumen and casts were often present-nearly always with the large white kidneys, not nearly as constantly with atrophied kidneys or with the cases of chronic congestion. In cases of chronic congestion the albumen was usually in small amount and often not accompanied with casts. The specific gravity of the urine was apt to be low with chronic diffuse nephritis and high with chronic congestion, but there were many exceptions to this rule. With large white kidneys, atrophied kidneys, simple diffuse nephritis, and chronic congestion the specific gravity might be either normal, high, or low up to the time of death. Transudation of the serum into the subcutaneous connective tissue and the serous cavities was a very constant symptom. It was a little more constant, and perhaps usually reached a greater degree, in the cases of chronic diffuse nephritis than in those of chronic congestion. Headache, delirium, convulsions, and coma occurred in a moderate number of all the cases. Dyspnoea was a very frequent symptom in all the cases. Cough, with mucus or muco-purulent sputa, sometimes with hæmoptysis, was a very common symptom. Many of the patients lost flesh and strength and became anæmic. COURSE OF THE DISEASE.-There is a great deal of similarity in the histories of patients who suffer from the combination of cardiac and renal disease. There is first the history of the heart disease. A patient goes on for a number of years, sometimes apparently perfectly well and unconscious that his heart is diseased, sometimes more or less troubled with cough, cardiac dyspnoea, and palpitation. But after a longer or shorter time there is a marked change for the worse. Either gradually or rapidly the cough becomes worse, the dyspnoea greater, the functions of the stomach are disturbed, the patient loses flesh and strength, dropsy is developed, and finally cerebral symptoms. Some die suddenly, some with exhaustion, some with dropsy, some with dyspnoea, some comatose. It is always possible for the patient to recover from the first attack of this kind, sometimes even from a second, but eventually there comes an attack which proves fatal. The most striking cases are those in which cardiac disease exists for many years without giving any symptoms, and then the symptoms are developed rapidly. Such persons, although they have organic disease of the heart, may seem to enjoy perfect health. They may even be able to take long walks, climb mountains, or perform laborious work. On some day they suddenly become sick. Sometimes the exciting cause of the attack is a pleurisy or a pericarditis, sometimes there is no apparent cause. The first symptom is usually dyspnoea, and this is not an ordinary cardiac dyspnoea. It is a very distressing and constant dyspnoea, which does not allow the patients to lie down. They pass days and nights sitting in a chair, fatigued, ready to sleep, but kept awake by the constant dyspnoea. Some of these patients will die at the end of a few days; others live longer and develop dropsy, anæmia, and cerebral symp toms. When the chronic congestion of the kidneys is secondary to emphysema of the lungs, the course of affairs is much the same. The patient goes on for a number of years with the ordinary symptoms of emphysema, and then gradually or suddenly becomes worse. Dyspnoea, dropsy, anæmia, cerebral symptoms make their appearance, and the case terminates in the same way as the cardiac cases. DURATION.-How long congestion of the kidneys may exist without producing symptoms it is hard to say. Certainly it may exist for a number of days without any apparent disturbance of the functions of the kidney. Whether it may exist for a time, give symptoms, and then disappear, is uncertain; the rule seems to be that the lesion, when once well established, persists up to the death of the patient. TREATMENT.-It must be acknowledged that we can hardly hope for a cure of the lesion of the kidneys, and that even alleviation of the symptoms is not always possible. The mechanical cause of the obstruction to the venous circulation cannot be removed, and it is not only the functions of the kidneys that are disturbed, but those of the lungs, liver, spleen, stomach, and small intestine. Still, we can do something. The iodide of potassium, convallaria, caffeine, and digitalis may be of service in equalizing and strengthening the heart's action, and at the same time act as diuretics. Inhalations of the nitrite of amyl dilate the arteries and capillaries, and so unload the veins. Opium is the great remedy for the dyspnoea, although it must be given with caution. Inhalations of ether may render the patient's last days more comfortable. BRIGHT'S DISEASE OF THE KIDNEYS. AFTER considering separately the condition of chronic congestion of the kidney, we find that there are a group of kidney diseases characterized by certain rational symptoms, changes in the urine, and alterations in the structure of the kidneys which are popularly known by the name of Bright's disease. Various attempts have been made to classify these cases. 1. All the kidney lesions have been supposed to correspond to the stages of an inflammatory process-a stage of congestion, a second stage of exudation, and a third stage of contraction. 2. The disease has been divided, according to its clinical symptoms, simply into acute and chronic Bright's disease. 3. The gross appearances have been taken as a standard, and the cases are classed as examples of large white kidney, atrophied kidney, waxy kidney, etc. 4. The kidneys have been compared to mucous membranes, and authors speak of catarrhal and croupous nephritis. 5. The disease has been classified, according to the particular part of the kidney affected, into parenchymatous, tubular, glomerular, interstitial, and diffuse nephritis. With our present knowledge of the subject it seems to me most convenient to speak of acute and chronic parenchymatous nephritis and acute and chronic diffuse nephritis. I include under the head of parenchymatous nephritis all those kidneys in which the lesions are strictly confined to the epithelial cells lining the tubules and the capsules of the |