Renal tension and its treatment by surgical means / by Reginald Harrison.

  • Harrison, Reginald, 1837-1908.
Date:
[1901]
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: Renal tension and its treatment by surgical means / by Reginald Harrison. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    the pain of tension in a highly sensitive organ relieved, but structural damage averted. In fact, sterility, so far as this organ was con- cerned, was by this simple means rendered unlikely to occur. It is, however, to the ocular and digital examination of the kidney during life that I would attach most importance relative to the subject that is now before us. This is a pro- ceeding which may be regarded as an outcome of the general use of anaesthetics and anti- septics for almost all surgical proceedings. Before these were introduced the living human kidney was only seen on rare occa- sions in connection with abdominal wounds accidentally inflicted and when the organ involved was in a healthy state. Now, the operating surgeon may be said to be familiar with its appearance and consistence in all states of disease and injury. From my earliest explorations of the kidney I soon learnt to recognise that both in regard to its colour and consistence, apart from its size, there were very important variations to be observed which I had never seen in the organ after death. Later on I observed that in some cases of albuminuria the albumen permanently disappeared from the urine after the kidney