This study was undertaken with the idea of ascertaining whether or not there was any experimental evidence in support of the claim made frequently by clinicians that diuretics are contra-indicated in many cases of acute nephritis because they act to increase the work of the kidney and are irritants which may augment the pathological process already existent in the kidney. Clinicians holding this view regard diuretic drugs as harmful in cases of acute nephritis. If diuretics are harmful in acute nephritis animals with experimental renal lesions similar to those in acute nephritis in man should be unfavorably influenced by diuretic drugs. This series of experiments was planned to determine whether or not this was the case with one diuretic (theobromin sodium salicylate or diuretin).
Experiments were conducted chiefly along a comparative therapeutic line. An acute nephritis was produced in rabbits, and then a diuretic drug1 (diuretin) was given to