Toxæmia in Pregnancy, with Illustrative Cases

By toxaemia in pregnancy is generally understood that condition occurring in the pregnant state as the result of the presence in excess of toxic material. Its origin has not been elucidated, but as far as is known the character of the poison or poisons produced in the body of mother and foetus is of the nature of alkaloids. The excretion of the excess of waste material being in large part effected through the kidneys, attention has been chiefly directed to those cases where kidney failure was the most prominent symptom. Thus the albuminuria of pregnancy, generally accounted for as the result of mechanical pressure or reflex spasms of the renal arteries, may be the result of toxaemia. Clifford Albutt finds evidence for the presence of a toxin in pregnancy from the fact that healthy urine contains toxic material, and he refers to the experiments of Bouchard, who found that when such urine was injected into animals symptoms ending in coma were produced. The nature of this poison is unknown. Bouchard ascertained that it was not urea, as, in order to produce a fatal result, more of this substance was necessary than the amount present in the urine injected, and likewise the amount of potash salts present was insufficient to cause the effects produced. Many obstetricians now believe that the theories which have