Page:Transactions of the Provincial Medical and Surgical Association, volume 1.djvu/123

 glands. Though many of the symptoms, indicative of the latter disease, present themselves; such as prominence of the belly, and wasting of the muscular flesh, with a chylous aspect of the stools, yet, if we find all of them yielding, in a reasonable time, to ordinary treatment, we must surely conclude that no very serious disease exists in the mesenteric glands. It is true that hypertrophy of the liver, in children of a scrofulous habit, may give rise to mesenteric affections; for post mortem examinations frequently shew disease existing in both these organs, yet what I wish to be borne in mind is, that hepatic hypertrophy may exist, uncombined, and in that simple form, produce symptoms liable to be mistaken for enlarged mesenteric glands.

But there is one viscus that, in the pathological detail of infantile maladies, appears hardly to have attracted that attention its importance demands, I allude to the kidney, which, in dissection, seems to exhibit more frequent marks of disease than is usually supposed. The urine of children is but seldom attended to, either by mother, nurse, or medical practitioner. Neither has the art of chemistry lent us any aid in deciding what are the component parts of healthy urine in children. The few experiments that have been made, are unsatisfactory and inconclusive; one chemist tells us one thing, another maintains the contrary. Where the diet of children is unwholesome, and the consequent disorders of their digestive organs neglected, it is common to find a deposition of red sand in the urine. This, however, will often disappear after the exhibition of alkalies, and, in some instances, the urine of a child