THE KIDNEYS SECRETION OF URINE. 507 



iu moderation, ami was an almost total abstainer from alcoholic fluids. On 

 the first day of' the walk he made 80 miles, on the second 48, on the third 92, 

 on the fourth 50, and on the fifth 40. The failure occurred on the fourth 

 day from vertigo, partly induced by want of sleep. During the five days of 

 tlu- walk Mr. Weston consumed in all 1173.80 grains of nitrogen in his food, 

 and eliminated 1807.60 grains of nitrogen iu the urine and fteces. This 

 leaves 633.80 grains of nitrogen over and above the nitrogen of the food, 

 which must be attributed to the waste of the tissues, and probably almost 

 exclusively to the waste of the muscular tissue. Lean meat as has already 

 been shown contains about three per cent, of nitrogen ( 337). The loss of 

 633.80 grains of nitrogen would then represent a loss of 21.127 grains, or 

 3.018 Ibs. of muscular tissue. The actual loss of weight was 3.450 Ibs., which 

 allows 0.43 Ib. loss unaccounted for, which might be fat or water. It would 

 hence appear that there was a distinct consumption of muscular substance 

 during the immense exertion of the period of five days' walking. In two 

 days after the walk the weight of the body had been made up to within four 

 ounces of the normal weight. Schultzen and Neucki 1 have shown that 

 Leucin and Glycocol administered to dogs greatly increase the amount of 

 urea eliminated. Tyrosiu causes no increase, but is expelled unaltered. Cere- 

 bral activity 2 and sexual excitement 3 augment the quantity of urea. 



Frequency of Micturition. Kaupp* has shown that W 7 ith increased fre- 

 quency of micturition there is an increase in the quantity both of urine and 

 of urea discharged in twenty-four hours. 



Disease. The amount of urea eliminated increases iu the early stages of 

 nearly all acute diseases, meningitis, pneumonia, typhus, etc., indicating 

 the rapid disintegration of the nitrogenous tissues and constituents of the blood, 

 and coinciding with the period during which increased heat of skin is usually 

 complained of. This, though not more than 4 or 5 Fahr. above the ave- 

 rage, represents (from Newton's law of cooling), an increase of one-eighth of 

 the total amount of heat produced an amount equivalent to the- force 

 required to raise the body through one mile of vertical height per diem, 5 

 and furnishing an adequate explanation of the extreme exhaustion experi- 

 enced by the sufferers at this period. Vogel and Waruecke found that in a 

 case of typhoid fever no less than 1065 grains of urea were excreted daily, 

 or more than double the usual average, and in a case of pyremia the extra- 

 ordinary quantity of 1235? grains. Now, as every four grains of urea ex- 

 creted correspond to five tons lifted through one foot, it is obvious that an 

 enormous amount of force is spent in these diseases, fully accounting for the 

 extraordinary debility induced in such patients. When the fever is over 

 the quantity of urea falls below the normal amount, in spite of the aug- 

 mented quantity of nitrogenous food ingested, which is doubtless appropri- 

 ated to the repair of the wasted tissues, and it then after perfect recovery 

 returns to the normal standard. During convalescence it gradually subsides, 

 and may even fall below the normal amount. The proportion appears to 

 be remarkably diminished in some forms of hepatic disease. Thus Frerichs, 6 

 in a case of acute atrophy of the liver, found no trace of urea in the urine, 

 but in its place leuciu and tyrosin. In another case, recorded by Vogel, of 

 cancer of the liver, scarcely one-fourth of the normal quantity of urea was 

 found in the urine; and Heller has shown that the proportion of urea is 

 diminished in chronic nervous affections, and in anaemia, however produced. 7 



1 Zeits. fur Biologie, 1872. 2 Byasson, Eev. d. Cours Scient., 1868, Thesis. 



3 Haughton, loc. cit., found the ordinary quantity of urea to be in the sheep 256 

 grains per diem, but in the ram during the rutting season 1493 grains per diem. 



4 Archiv f. Phys. Heilk., 1856. 5 Haughton, Op. cit. 



6 Deutsche Klinik, 1855, p. 31. 7 Gmeiin, vol. viii, p. 325. 



