The importance of arteriosclerosis as a cause of cardiac hypertrophy is a problem which for many years has attracted the attention of both pathologists and clinicians, but even after the most extensive studies on the subject one must admit that the question is, as yet, far from settled. The great obstacle to the elucidation of this problem has been the difficulty in obtaining an exact method for study. So far, most of our conclusions have been drawn from the examination of autopsy material and it is well known how many and what complicated factors confront one under these circumstances. Diseases of the blood-vessels are so frequently associated with other conditions, such as chronic nephritis, which of themselves may lead to hypertrophy, that it is with the greatest difficulty that one can make accurate deductions concerning the direct influence of arteriosclerosis.
It seems, however, to have been shown satisfactorily