On the minute anatomy and pathology of Bright's disease of the kidney, and on the relation of the renal disease to those diseases of the liver, heart, and arteries, with which it is commonly associated / by George Johnson.

  • Johnson, George, 1818-1896.
Date:
[1845]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: On the minute anatomy and pathology of Bright's disease of the kidney, and on the relation of the renal disease to those diseases of the liver, heart, and arteries, with which it is commonly associated / by George Johnson. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The University of Glasgow Library. The original may be consulted at The University of Glasgow Library.

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    which the A'essels nve arranged in the kidney, and the nature of the Malpighian bodies, as demonstrated by Mr. Bowman, in his admirable paper, On the Structure and Use of the Malpighian Bodies of the Kidney.* The arrangement of the vessels in the kidney, and the cii-culation through the gland, may be thus briefly described: a small terminal twig of the artery pierces the dilated extremity of the urinary tube : within the capsule thus formed by the expansion of the tube, the artery breaks up into a capillary plexus, which Mr. Bowman has named the Malpighian tuft of capillaries; these capillaries again unite into a single efferent vessel, which passes out through the capsule, and goes to form another plexus, which immediately surrounds the urinary tubes. The course of the circulation then is from the artery into the Malpighian plexus, which hes tvithin the dilated extremity of the urinary tube, and from this plexus through the efferent vessel into the capillary plexus, which lies external to the tubes amidst their coils and convolutions. Any one having a clear conception of the anatomy of the kidney cannot fail to perceive the effect upon the circulation through the gland, which must result from the changes which I have described as primarily and essentially consti- tuting Bright's disease of the kidney. The fat accumulates in the epithelial cells to such an extent as to produce en- gorgement and dilatation of the cells, and of the tubes which are hned by them; the consequence is, compression of the capillary plexus surroimding the tubes, giving rise to conges- tion of the Malpighian plexus. This passive congestion of the Malpighian plexus leads to transudation of the serum of the blood, and sometimes to rupture of the delicate vessels of the plexus, and the consequent escape of the colouring mat- ter and fibrin of the blood. These constituents of the blood pass into the tubes, and so become mixed with the lu-ine. Their escape from the blood-vessels is the result of a media nical impediment to the return of the blood consequent on • Philosophical Transactions, 1842.