SECRETION OF URINE. 645 



the last six of these, it consisted solely of eggs. He took 32 eggs daily; 

 which contained 189'7 grammes of dry albumen, and 157'48 of fatty matters; 

 or about 228'75 grammes of carbon, and 30' 16 of azote. The amount of 

 Urea is shown, in the second line of the Table, to have undergone a very 

 large increase ; and it contained more than five-sixths of the whole azote in- 

 gested. In a third series of experiments, Dr. L. lived for twelve days on a 

 Vegetable diet ; and its effect upon the solid matter of the Urine is shown in 

 the third line of the Table. In a fourth, he lived for two days upon pure 

 farinaceous and oleaginous substances, without azotized food of any kind ; 

 and the azotized matter of the Urine must, therefore, have been solely the 

 result of the disintegration of the tissues. It is seen to undergo a very marked 

 diminution under this regimen, as is shown in the fourth line of the Table. 

 His health was so seriously affected, however, by this diet, that he was una- 

 ble to continue it longer. 



Lactic Acid (?) Extractive 

 Solid Matters. Urea. Uric Acid, and Lactates. Matters. 



I. Mixed diet . . 67-82 32-498 MS3 2'257 10-480 



II. Animal diet . . . 87-44 53-198 1-478 2-167 5-145 



III. Vegetable diet . . . 59-24 22-481 1-021 2-069 16-499 



IV. Non-Azotized diet . . 41'68 15-408 0'735 5-276 11-854 



850. The following inferences are drawn by Dr. Lehmann, from these 

 experiments : " 1. Animal articles of diet augment the solid matters of the 

 Urine. Vegetable substances, and still more such as are deprived of azote, 

 on the contrary, diminish it. 2, Although Azote be a product of decomposi- 

 tion of the organism, yet its proportions in the urine depend also on the food, 

 for we find a richly-azotized diet augmentvfconsiderably the quantity of Urea. 

 In the above experiments, the proportion of the Urea to the other solid mat- 

 ters was as 100 to 116 in a mixed diet; as 100 to 63 in an animal diet; as 

 100 to 156 in a vegetable diet; and as 100 to 170 in a non-azotized diet. 3. 

 The quantity of Uric Acid depends less on the nature of the diet, than on 

 other circumstances ; the differences observed in it being too slight to warrant 

 us in ascribing them to the former cause. 4. The combinations of Proteine, 

 and consequently the azote of the food, are absorbed in the intestinal canal ; 

 and what is not employed in the formation of the tissues, is thrown off by 

 the Kidneys in the form of Urea or Uric acid, these organs being the chief 

 if not the sole, channel through which the system frees itself of its excess of 

 azote. 5. The urine contains quantities of Sulphates and Phosphates pro- 

 portional to the azotized matters which have been absorbed ; and the -propor- 

 tion of these salts is sensibly increased under the use of a large amount of 

 those. 6. In the same circumstances, the Extractive matters diminish, while 

 their quantity is increased by the use of vegetable diet, a fact which proves 

 the influence of vegetable aliment over the production of these matters in the 

 urine. 7. Under an animal diet, the quantity of Lactic acid diminishes ; but 

 the greater part of this acid is free. It is the reverse under a vegetable diet ; 

 there is more lactic acid, but it is united to bases. . The largest production of 

 lactic acid is under a non-azotized diet; and most of it is then combined with 

 ammonia. Therefore the lactic acid eliminated with the urine, is in great part 

 the product of non-azotized substances not entirely assimilated; but it results 

 also in part from the decomposition of the azotized substances entering into 

 the composition of the body and the food. 8. The Kidneys not only sepa- 

 rate certain constituent parts of the organs, which have become inadequate for 

 the maintenance of life, but they also expel the superfluous nutritive matters 

 that may have been absorbed."* It must be remarked, with regard to these 



* L'Experience, Dec. 7, 1843; andEdinb. Monthly Journal, March, 1844. 



