A contribution to the study of some forms of albuminuria associated with kidney tension and their treatment / by Reginald Harrison.

  • Harrison, Reginald, 1837-1908.
Date:
1896
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A contribution to the study of some forms of albuminuria associated with kidney tension and their treatment / by Reginald Harrison. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    bility of this organ both so far as relates to inspection and treatment ? Amongst other organs of the body the kidneys furnish us with examples of the most complex and delicate forms of structural development, as we might expect, considering the elaborate kind of excretion in which they are engaged. Like the eyes they are double organs, with sympathies existing between them by which impressions and actions are reflected from the one to the other. Relief afforded to one kidney, for instance, usually assists the other, whilst when the excretory power on one side is suspended or arrested the opposite organ speedily takes up the whole of this work. The surgery of the kidney, even in its present stage, may be regarded as one of the most im- portant advances of the present century. What has been done for renal stone, growth, distensions with pus and urine, abnormal mobility, and other painful affections of this part is sufficient to indicate this. Nor is it at all likely that we have here reached limits which cannot be extended with advantage. I allude more particularly to the effects of tension arising out of excessive excretory efforts on the part of these organs and resulting in con- gestion and inflammation, which, in some instances, are probably more disastrous and far-reaching in their local consequences than those surgical conditions of the kidney which have been briefly noted. I have referred to the eye as illustrating what surgery has accomplished in reference to tension and certain ill- effects arising out of it. Here one of the most disastrous effects of pressure is seen in that condition to which the term glaucoma is applied. The recognition of the true pathology of this affection and the adoption of mechanical treatment by iridectomy or an allied operation for its relief at once resulted in the saving of a vast number of eyes which previously to this discovery would have been lost. I purpose considering in this paper some points con- nected with tension of the kidney relative to albuminuria and its treatment by surgical means. In the first place I would draw attention very briefly to the structural ar- rangement of the kidney. It may be said to be a highly organised gland surrounded by a thin, though fibrous, capsule, and divided up into departments or sections by barriers of a similar tissue. It is capable of distension to