The cause of chronic glomerular nephritis is by no means clear, nor is there much agreement among investigators as to whether an acute attack followed by a latent period is the forerunner of the chronic stage. It is not the purpose of this article, nor will any attempt be made, to discuss exhaustively the literature on these problems. We present, however, a few expressions of opinion from recent textbooks and articles relating to the subject. Aldrich1 stated:
Several facts brought out by our study of nephritis have cast doubt upon this hypothesis: First, one is often unable to elicit from the patients or their families any history of acute febrile infection at the onset; second, our careful follow-up observation of large numbers of children who have suffered from acute postinfectious hemorrhagic nephritis has failed to reveal significant relationship between the two conditions; third, in the few patients seen from