1892.] 



The Influence of the Kidney on Metabolism. 



27 



that there remain eleven cases in which, observations were made on 

 the nrine before and after the operations. 



Effects of the First Operation (i.e., the removal of a wedge of 

 the kidney substance). — The shock of the operation passes off in 

 about twenty-four hours, but for two or three days there is some 

 hematuria, and the appetite is poor. The temperature of the body 

 remains at its normal height, or there may be slight pyrexia. The 

 dog, however, soon regains its former health, and no permanent ill 

 effects result from the operation in the great majority of cases. In 

 one case (one of the eight incomplete experiments) the animal died 

 thirty-six days after the operation, with considerable wasting and loss 

 of appetite, and nothing was found post mortem except extreme 

 atrophy of the kidney operated on. The opposite kidney was 

 healthy and of normal size. The atrophy was very marked, as 

 the following numbers show: — 7*6 grams of the left kidney were 

 removed, post mortem the remaining fragment of the left kidney 

 weighed only 3'5 grams, and the opposite kidney 18 grams. In this 

 case, the only one where death resulted from the effects of the first 

 operation, although the atrophy was very marked, there was micro- 

 scopically no evidence of cirrhosis, and no lesions of the renal vessels 

 were discovered. The cause of death is obscure, as the second kidney 

 was not removed. 



With this one exception, the first operation failed to produce any 

 serious or permanent ill effects, and the only result noticed was 

 slight emaciation, but this was generally recovered from in a week 

 or two. 



A period of from one to six weeks was allowed to elapse between 

 the first and second operations, and during this time the animal was 

 placed in the chamber, and the ingesta and excreta determined. The 

 following table gives the results observed in five cases :— = 



