122 ,I()ii;.\.\i. oi" III i; M II (I! i;!,i, Soci i; 1 ^• \l)('c. 



of severe tuhiilar iiijui'v. Tlicre was not. however, any con- 

 stant or marked liistoloii'ical evidcMice of vascnlar injury. 



The response of the renal vessels to various types of 

 stinmli in these anurie and practically amii'ic animals was 

 apparently suihcient to indnce a tlow of urine; yet in this 

 ii'roup of experiments the animals remained anurie. 



It seemed, therel'ore, advisahle to determine, if jxissihh;, 

 wliethei- the epithelial involvement of the kidney was the 

 primary canse for the development of the anni'ic state, or 

 whether associatetl with the degenerative clnuiiies in the epi- 

 thelium, the vascular mechanism of the kidney even though 

 it showed no evidence; of histological changes of a degenera- 

 tive character, had hecome functionally iiicomjx'tent. 

 This incompetency, if it does exist, could he hest determined 

 not hy compai'ing the vascnlar response of a ne])hritic animal 

 with a normal animal, hnt hy comparing the vascular re- 

 sponse of animals nei)hritic fi'om the same <|nantity of the 

 nephrotoxic suhstanc(> which following an anesthetic may 

 either become anurie oi- I'emain dinretic. 



The experiments which t'oi'm the basis for tliis communi- 

 cation have been conducted on the same general plan as were 

 the expei'iments of Schlayer ('>) and his associates, and of the 

 moi-e rcn-ent ex])eriments of Pearce, Hill and iMsenbrey (4). 

 .An early acknowledgment of my indebtedness to these in- 

 vestigators is therefore eminently projx'r. 



The oliservatioii was first made by i'earce (4) that cer- 

 tain animals n(!j)hritic from j)()tassium dichromate, uranium 

 nitrate or corrosive sublimat(> following an anesthetic became 

 anurie. it was also observed i>y Pearce that in certain ani- 

 mals nej)lii'itic from uranium and anurie following an anes- 

 thetic, the kidney vessels were responsive to such peripheral 

 stinmli as adi'eiialin, hypertonic sodium chloride solution and 

 caU'eiii. 



The plieiioiiieiioii of \ asodilafioii with little of no dinresis 

 was considei'cd by Pearce to be dne to an impermeability of 

 the glomei'ulus which follows the anesthetic. 



As a result of the previously mentioned ohservations (1 



