EXPERIMENTAL NEPHROSIS

The genesis of the pathologic changes in the kidneys that are associated with different types of renal disorder remains obscure. It is well known that certain drugs, notably toxic agents such as some of the heavy metals, may lead to degenerative changes of a serious character. Thus, uranium salts have been employed experimentally to bring about kidney defects in animals. The possible rôle of bacteria and their toxins as factors injurious to the renal structures is generally admitted by students of focal infection. The details of the pathogenesis remain for the most part to be elucidated. Considerable interest has been centered of late in the condition that is currently designated as nephrosis. The latter is signally different from many of the long familiar types of nephritis, notably in respect to the low content of serum protein that characterizes the disorder attended with marked albuminuria. The clearer appreciation of some of