138 Society for Experimental Biology and Medicine. 



96 (239) 



The relation of anatomic structure to function. 

 By WILLIAM OPHULS. 



\_From the Pathologic Laboratory of Cooper Medical College, San 



Francisco , Cal.~\ 



It is a well known fact that function is often disturbed without 

 corresponding anatomic lesion. There is always a suspicion, how- 

 ever, that the lack of demonstrable lesion is only apparent and 

 really to be attributed to our crude methods of investigation and 

 our lack of knowledge of the physiologic arrangements. As the 

 Altmann method reveals some very fine details of the protoplasm, 

 and as Altmann has shown that during normal function, especially 

 when stimulated by injections of pilocarpin, the appearance and 

 arrangement of the granules, brought out by his method in the 

 protoplasm, changes quite remarkably, they being in many cases 

 extruded to form part of the secretion, I thought it interesting to 

 see whether these structures would serve as indicators of any 

 primary alteration in the protoplasm of cells during functional 

 disturbances. 



The kidney appeared to be the organ best suited for this pur- 

 pose as by collection of the urine directly after its discharge from 

 the ureters, the exact moment of the occurrence of the disturbance 

 could be ascertained. It is possible to produce albuminuria in 

 dogs within a few hours by intravenous injection of bichromate of 

 potash (about 2-3 c.c. of a solution). If Altmann's specimens 

 are made from the kidneys at this time no lesions are found. That 

 the poison nevertheless acts upon the epithelial cells and the 

 granules in them is shown by the subsequent development of 

 severe lesion in them. 



In phloridzin glycosuria, likewise, no lesions are demonstrable 

 by this method, although we are fairly certain that the excretion of 

 sugar in this case is due to a lesion in the kidney. 



I am inclined to believe that quite a few of the anatomic 

 changes which we now look upon as primary are the result rather 

 than the cause of the functional disturbance, although the disar- 

 rangement brought about by them naturally often aggravates the 



