=Treatment.=--Retention of urine is a serious condition. If not relieved, it may end in death from toxaemia, caused by back pressure on the kidneys, or from rupture of the bladder. Therefore surgical assistance is demanded as soon as it can be obtained. Failing this, begin with the simpler methods. A hot sitz bath, or, if the patient cannot move, hot applications, as a hot poultice or hot cloths applied over the lower part of the belly, may afford relief. Injections of hot water into the bowel are often more efficient still. A single full dose of opium in some form, as fifteen drops of laudanum[10] or two teaspoonfuls of paregoric[10] or one-quarter grain of morphine,[10] will frequently allow of a free passage of urine. The introduction of a suppository into the bowel, containing one-quarter grain each of morphine sulphate,[10] and belladonna extract, is often preferable to giving the drug by the mouth. These measures proving of no avail, the next endeavor should be to pass a catheter. If a soft rubber or elastic catheter is used with reasonable care, little damage can be done, even by a novice. The catheter should be boiled in water for ten minutes, and after washing his hands thoroughly the attendant should anoint the catheter with sweet oil (which has been boiled) or clean vaseline and proceed to introduce the catheter slowly into the urinary passage until the urine begins to flow out through the instrument. A medium-sized catheter is most generally suitable, as a No. 16 of the French scale, or a No. 8-1/2 of the English scale. =BRIGHTS DISEASE OF THE KIDNEYS.=--Bright's disease of the kidneys is acute or chronic, and its presence can be definitely determined only by chemical and microscopical examination of the urine. Acute Bright's disease coming on in persons previously well may often, however, present certain symptoms by which its existence may be suspected even by the layman. =ACUTE BRIGHT'S DISEASE; ACUTE INFLAMMATION OF THE KIDNEYS.=--Acute Bright's disease is often the result of exposure to cold and wet. Inflammation of the kidneys may be produced by swallowing turpentine, many of the cheap flavoring extracts in large amounts, carbolic acid, and Spanish flies; the external use of large quantities of turpentine, carbolic acid, or Spanish flies may also lead to acute inflammation of the kidneys. It occurs occasionally in pregnant women. The contagious germ diseases are very frequently the source of acute Bright's disease either as a complication or sequel. Thus scarlet fever is the most frequent cause, but measles, smallpox, chickenpox, yellow fever, typhoid fever, erysipelas, diphtheria, cholera, and malaria are also causative factors.