DISEASES OF THE KIDNFYS.—.The most important affection of the kidneys is Bright's disease (q.v.), the symptoms of which have already been described. On examining the' kidneys in a case of death from this disease, it is found that there is a great increase in the size and number of the oil-globules which exist in small quantities in the epithelial cells of the healthy gland. The urinary tubes becoming thus gorged and distended, compress the capillary vessels on their exterior; and hence, is consequence of passive congestion of the Malpighian vessels, which gives rise to obstruction of the circulation, the serum of the blood exudes in place of pure water, and gets mixed with the urine, which thus becomes albuminous in this disease. Inflammation of the kidneys, or nephritis, is not uncommon. In acute inflammation, there is a deep-seated pain in the small of the back, on one or upon both sides, often extending downward towards the inside of the thigh. The pain is increased by pressure, sudden change of position, coughing, etc. The urine is scanty, high-colored, albuminous, or bloody, and often deposits pus and sedimentary matter on standing. There is more or less fever, preceded by rigors; nausea and vomiting are frequent; and the bowels are usually constipated. Lu chronic inflam mation, most of the above symptoms are present bnt in a milder form, and there is little or no fever. In both the acute and chronic form, the blood may income contaminated, as in Bright's disease (q.v.), from the want of due- purification by the kidneys, anti various secondary affections may arise.
The causes of inflammation of the kidney are various. It may be due to mechanical violence, exposure to cold and wet, and to the ingestion of substances which have the property of irritating the kidneys, as cantharides, oil of turpentine, etc. A gouty diathesis and the presence of concretions may also be noticed as causes. Any affection capable of producing retention of urine may, by distending the pelvis of the kidney, occasion inflammation, as, for example, stricture of the urethra and affections of the. spinal cord producing paralysis of the urinary organs.
The treatment must, on the whole, be antiphlogistie (or lowering) in the early stage of the disease, but must be considerably modified in accordance with the origin of the disease.
Nephralgia, or pain in the kidney without inflammation, which usually but not inva riably depends upon the passage of a concretion through the ureter, is one of the most. painful affections to which the human frame is subject. It usually comes on when the concretion makes its way from the pelvis of the kidney into the ureter, and does not cease till it has passed into the bladder. During an ordinary fit of gravel (see CALCULUS), or even in apparent health, a severe pain is suddenly felt in the loins, extending to the groin, thigh, or abdomen, and sometimes simulating colic. The pain comes on in par oxysms, with intervening periods of comparative ease. The paroxysm is usually accom
panied by vomiting, a small and feeble pulse, and a profuse sweat. There is a frequent.. desire to pass urine, but the effort is usually futile. At length, usually after some hours, or even one or two days, the concretion escapes into the bladder, and the pain suddenly ceases.
This affection may be readily distinguished from inflammation by the sudden access and paroxysmal character of the pain and by the absence of fever.
As the disease is one which is very liable to return, the patient should know what steps to take before advice can be obtained. Opium is our sheet-anchor in this affec• ,tion. The patient (assuming that he is an adult) may take two grains of opium, or an equivalent dose (35 or 40 minims) of laudanum or solution of muriate of morphia, when the attack comes on, and may repeat the medicine in half-doses every hour or two hours, until the pain is somewhat alleviated, or signs of the -narcotic influence of the drug begin to manifest themselves. Should the stomach be so irritable as to reject the medicine, a dram of laudanum in a little thin starch may be injected into the rectum. Hot foinentations to the abdomen and loins also give partial relief. Chloroform may be inhaled with great benefit during the paroxysms, but only under the superintendence of a physician.
,Suppression of urine, or isehuria renatis, is an affection in which there is either a. complete cessation of the secreting action of the kids ay, or so considerable a diminution as to be clearly morbid. It is undoubtedly, in most cases, a mere systom of some other disease, but occasionally no other disorder is obvious, and it must be regarded as an independent or idiopathic affection. If no urine be separated from the coma. (intense stupefaction) and death rapidly supervene from the retention of urea (or of car bonate of ammonia, into which it readily breaks up) in the blood, which thus becomes. impure, and acts as a poison on the brain. The treatment, which is seldom successful, is too purely professional for notice in these pages.
For further information on diseases of the kidneys and allied affections, see the. articles BRIGHT'S DISEASE, DIABETES, DROPSY, and CALCULUS.
Anthyllis, a genus of plants of the natural order leguminove, sub order papilioncw&e, containing a number of species, some shrubby, and some herbaceous, natives chiefly of the warmer temperate parts of the Eastern Hemisphere. They have the petals nearly equal in length, and an oval 1 to 3-seeded pod, inclosed in the permanent. inflated and generally downy calyx. The only British species is the common kidney vetch (A. vulneraria), also called ladY's fingers, a herbaceous perennial, with pinnated. unequal leaves, and crowded heads of yellow (or sometimes scarlet) flowers. It on very dry soils, and is eaten with avidity by cattle, but does not yield much produce.