Chronic diffuse nephritis during childhood is a rare condition though of no less interest because of its infrequent character. The possibility of its occurrence was first suggested in 1872 when Gull and Sutton1 described a case of "contracted kidneys" in a 9 year old girl. Its actual occurrence was confirmed two years later by Barlow2 who gave the first complete case report of this condition. Since the time of Barlow, a gradually increasing number of cases have been reported, particularly in England where the name of "renal infantilism" has tended to emphasize the associated general bodily changes, as well as the original kidney lesion. In Germany, likewise, there has been a series of similar case reports. Under these conditions it would seem desirable that the whole field be surveyed, all available cases reviewed, and the findings correlated. This has been attempted in the present paper. The clinical and