This little book was assembled from the authors' lectures to medical
students and was originally published as one volume in the series Human
Physiology, edited by O. H. Gauer, K. Kramer, and R. Jung. The editors
intended that each volume in this series be independent of the others
and we have kept to this purpose. We have included here only material
that we feel is necessary for medical students to know in order to
understand kidney function in health and, by later extrapolation, in
disease. The contents rest on accepted principles estab- lished by
experiments, and little space is given to what is controversial, hypo-
thetical, or unresolved. We are pleased that Dr. Coxon has been
motivated to prepare an English language version of this text. We hope
that it will serve as a ready reference and review source for the
beleaguered medical student. P. Deetjen J. W. Boylan K.