We have made a statistical study of the renal function of patients with essential hypertension. The only large series of data available to us from tests of renal function are chiefly results of the Volhard, the phenolsulfonphthalein excretion and the urea clearance test. It has been shown by a number of investigators1 that these tests do not demonstrate remarkable reductions in renal function in persons with essential hypertension. On studying the reports on which this con clusion was based, it was evident that the opinion was obtained as a result of comparing single examples of renal function in persons with essential hypertension with single examples of renal function in a normal person in an attempt to demonstrate differential diagnostic possibilities of the tests. We have tried other methods of analysis in order to exhaust the possibilities of these tests.
The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate that