During the past few years a number of cases of albuminuria have come to my notice in which investigation showed the existence of a local focus, the removal of which led to the disappearance of the albuminuria. Thanks to the work of Billings and his school, we know the importance of foci of infection in the production of systemic disease. It is of interest to note that as early as 1802 Benjamin Rush pointed out in a letter the relation between systemic disease and caries and abscess of the teeth.
That severe local infections, such as ulcerative endocarditis, tonsillitis, and, indeed, most other acute infections, are capable of producing nephritis of the parenchymatous type, is of course a long-established fact. With this form of nephritis, which is an immediate result of the acute toxemia, I am not dealing. The type to which I desire to call attention is entirely devoid