THE CLASSIFICATION OF CHRONIC NEPHRITIS.

Abstract

No serious, at least no successful, attempt has ever been made to classify cases of chronic nephritis from the standpoint of etiology. Morbid anatomists and pathologists are far from unanimous in their descriptions of the various types or groups of this disease. And physicians are not always able to make a differentiation that is satisfactory from the clinical point of view or that holds good in the light of postmortem revelations. Yet it is important that we have some working classification, even though it be somewhat faulty and largely artificial. The present paper, making no pretense of new suggestions in this respect, is an attempt merely to epitomize the main facts already known concerning this confusing subject. While a historical review of the subject would be interesting and instructive, it must be omitted because of the time limit set to these papers, and it might do little more than to