upon which he
bases the following conclusions: Such deficiency occurs almost twice as
often in males as in females, a fact, however, which may be partly
accounted for by the greater frequency of necropsies on males. As to
age, 23 occurred in the fetus or newly born, most having some other
congenital deformity, especially imperforate anus; the rest were about
evenly distributed up to seventy years of age, after which only seven
cases occurred. Taking all cases together, the deficiency is more
common on the left than on the right side; but while in males the left
kidney is far more commonly absent than the right, in females the two
sides show the defect equally. The renal vessels were generally absent,
as also the ureter, on the abnormal side (the latter in all except 15
cases); the suprarenal was missing in 31 cases. The solitary kidney was
almost always normal in shape and position, but much enlarged.
Microscopically the enlargement would seem to be due rather to
hyperplasia than to hypertrophy. The bladder, except for absence of the
opening of one ureter, was generally normal. In a large number of cases
there were associated deformities of the organs of generation,
especially of the female organs, and these were almost invariably on
the side of the renal defect; they affected the conducting portion much
more than the glandular portion--that is, uterus, vagina, and Fallopian
tubes in the female, and vas deferens or vesiculae seminales in the
male, rather than the ovaries or testicles. Finally, he points out the
practical bearing of the subject--for example, the probability of
calculus causing sudden suppression of urine in such cases--and also
the danger of surgical interference, and suggests the possibility of
diagnosing the condition by ascertaining the absence of the opening of
one ureter in the bladder by means of the cystoscope, and also the
likelihood of its occurring where any abnormality of the genital organs
is found, especially if this be unilateral."

Green reports the case of a female child in which the right kidney and
right Fallopian tube and ovary were absent without any rudimentary
structures in their place. Guiteras and Riesman have noted the absence
of the right kidney, right ureter, and right adrenal in an old woman
who had died of chronic nephritis. The left kidney although cirrhotic
was very much enlarged.

Tompsett describes a necropsy made on a coolie child of nearly twelve
months, in which it w