CONTRIBUTIONS OF RICHARD BRIGHT AND HIS ASSOCIATES TO RENAL DISEASE

TO DISCUSS properly the contributions of Richard Bright and his associates to present knowledge of diseases of the kidney, it is necessary to review briefly the setting in Great Britain in the first thirty years of the nineteenth century. This period was marked by the triumphant campaigns of Wellington against Napoleon, by the flowering of artistic and inventive genius, by the gaudy excesses of the rich and the consequent suffering of the poor. Britain, without realizing what was happening, was undergoing a major shakeup, and the sudden advent of the industrial revolution almost brought about a rebellion. Consequently, the end of the third decade of the nineteenth century was a period of political and social turmoil. Happily, liberal politicians were in the ascendant in parliament, and they succeeded in enacting important reforms. Among these were a democratic electorial law and passage of an anatomy bill which permitted dissection of the