APPLICATION OF METHOD IN INFECTIOUS DISEASES 135 



Each individual case of albuminuria presents 

 analogous problems. Can the serum decom- 

 pose urine-albumen, or does it disintegrate the 

 tissues of the kidneys? Is the normal tissue of 

 kidneys decomposed, or only pathologically altered? 

 Let us point out, at this stage, that the determination 

 of the power of rotation of the serum may itself be 

 sufficient to direct us towards various important 

 observations. May there not be a hyper- and 

 a hypoproteinaemia ? Is there any albuminuria 

 which is based exclusively on heteroproteinasmia ? 

 Bence Jones's albuminuria and the typical albumin- 

 uria of pregnancy very likely represent such cases. 

 It would obviously be incorrect to designate such 

 kinds of albuminuria as being conditioned by 

 nephritis. 



In this connection we would lay stress on the fact 

 that eclampsia, and the toxaemias of pregnancy, 

 present us with a fruitful field for researches on 

 their special conditions. Up to the present it would 

 appear that the prognosis of eclampsia is the more 

 unfavourable, according as the decomposition of the 

 proteins disharmonious with the plasma is the less 

 complete. It goes without saying that we must not 

 jump to broad conclusions on the strength of these 

 observations. We have never ventured to assert that 

 the deciding factor in eclampsia is the insufficient 

 decomposition of the disharmonious substances ; and, 



