APPLICATION OF METHOD IX INFECTIOUS DISEASES 133 



cases of tuberculosis, of paralysis, or of dementia 

 pra?cox, <xc., without carefully considering the clinical 

 aspect of each of them. Above all, one ought to 

 make a continuous study of certain types of disease 

 in their different stages. Thus, for instance, 

 epilepsy ought to be observed before, dtiring and 

 after its onset, at the period of remission, and so on. 

 The normal individual also offers opportunities for 

 such studies, on such occasions as the advent of 

 pubertv, the climacterium, <xe. 



All the various forms of nephritis supply another 

 important field of research. Does the kidnev plav an 

 ^active part in individual cases, or does it only excrete 

 albumen that is out of harmony with the blood plasma 

 -that is, does it, in the main, play only a passive 

 part? The following observation illustrates a case f 

 this kind. Serum, from a female patient suffering fr i 

 nephritis gravidarum, decomposed placenta-albumen 

 and placenta-peptone with great difficulty. The rota- 

 tion of the serum was unusually hi^h. When this 



O 



serum was mixed with that of a normal pregnr. 

 patient, a change was observed in the rotation of 

 the mixture; and the fact that this was clue to a 

 decomposition was proved by the dialysation method. 

 Neither serum, dialysed by itself, showed any de- 

 composites of albumen. When both sera the one 

 from the case of nephritis gravidarum, and the other 

 from tile normal pregnant person were subjected 



