n, chills, thirst, pains in the loins, and a general dropsical,
puffy condition of the system, especially manifesting itself in the
earlier stages under the eyes, but gradually showing itself in the
oedema, or swelling of the feet, and lower extremities generally. Unless
promptly relieved, the patient dies of coma (stupor), or from
convulsions. No person should be so rash as to attempt the treatment of
this dangerous affection without the aid of the best medical skill that
can be procured.

IT IS THE CHRONIC FORM OF BRIGHT'S DISEASE that we propose principally
to discuss in this article. True Bright's disease of the kidneys is an
insidious and most fatal form of organic disease.

We venture to assert that less than one per cent. of those who imagine
they have "Bright's," have this disease at all. We find that most of
those who, as one of our Faculty puts it, _insist upon having_ Bright's
disease, base their "diagnosis" upon the ever-changing condition of the
urinary secretion, and especially upon the copiousness of the deposit;
whereas, in true Bright's, deposits of any kind are rarely met with.
Perhaps the form of deposit most commonly mistaken for Bright's disease,
is that known to medical men as the _urates_. When the urates are in
excess they form a heavy pinkish deposit of a flocculent nature within
from five to thirty minutes after the urine has been passed--that is,
after it has been passed sufficiently long to cool. To prove that the
deposit is urates, heat the specimen to the temperature of the blood,
when the deposit in question will disappear. Excess of urates has now
been definitely traced, in the majority of instances, to functional
torpidity of the liver.

Another common form of deposit is that in which the reaction of the
urine, instead of being acid, as in health, is either neutral or
alkaline, and in which the earthy phosphates are precipitated for this
reason. The earthy phosphates, when thrown down by a neutral or an
alkaline condition of the urine, appear as a heavy white deposit, which,
though usually devoid of clinical significance, is certainly calculated
to frighten timid patients who read of the "terrible ravages of
Bright's" in the advertisements of various popular "kidney cures." To
prove that the precipitate is phosphatic in its nature, add a few drops
of vinegar and it will disappear; whilst, if, after the vinegar has been
added, the specimen be brought to the boiling point, not only both