CLINICAL STUDIES ON THE RESPIRATION

Abstract

Since it has been established that under normal conditions the respiratory center is controlled by the reaction of the blood, and that any increase in blood acidity raises the pulmonary ventilation, the clinical conditions associated with acidosis have assumed a new significance. This is especially true of chronic nephritis, a disease in which dyspnea is not infrequently one of the most disturbing symptoms. Lewis and his associates,¹and Peabody,²have already discussed the association of acidosis and dyspnea in the group of clinical cases which is often classified under the term "cardiorenal disease," but the relation between the two is as yet by no means absolutely clear. In order to get more light on the subject it seemed to be of fundamental importance to obtain rather detailed information as to the mechanism which causes the acidosis, the period at which it begins to develop, the degree