When there is a disturbance in the functioning of an organ, appearing either as hyperfunction or hypofunction, it is desirable in most instances to be able to determine the degree of derangement. In diseases of the thyroid, for instance, the basal metabolism can be calculated with mathematical exactness; the state of functional activity of that organ can be determined. In heart disease, however, one must be content with a classification such as that proposed by the New York Society for the Study of Cardiac Diseases. For other organs, tests have been devised, some of which accurately and some inaccurately portray the functional activity of the organ. This paper is devoted to a study of some of the methods used to determine the severity of diabetes mellitus.
Joslin,1 in his textbook on "Treatment of Diabetes Mellitus," suggests the following classification: (a) severe cases—those in which the patients are able to