Cbe 



journal of Pbarmacolofly, 



Devoted to the Advances Made in Materia Medica in its Branches. 



Pharmacy, Pharmacognosy, Chemistry, Botany, Pharmaco- 



Dynamics, Therapeutics and Toxicology. 



Published for the Alumni Association of the College of Pharmacy of the City of New York, 

 by The New Era Printing Company, 41 North Queen St., Lancaster, Pa. 



Vol. VII. 



JUIvY, 1900. 



No. 7. 



Urine Analysis by the Pharmacist. 



By George C. DiEKMAN, Ph.G., M.D. 



{Continued from May Number.) 

 PART FOURTEEN. 



LIBR/ 



NEW ' 



bota:-, 



QARL 



NH.CO.C.NH 



Uric Acid C5H4N4O3 C0< II >C0. 



NH C.NH 



Uric acid next to urea is one of the most important nitrogenous con- 

 stituents of urine. It exists in urine most often in combination with 

 sodium, potassium and ammonium, as salts of these, rarer in combination 

 with calcium and magnesium. While in mammals urea is the chief nitrog- 

 enous waste product, in reptiles, birds, etc., uric acid is the form m 

 which the greater portion of nitrogen is excreted. Under normal con- 

 ditions a healthy adult excretes from 0.4-0.8 grammes of uric acid daily. 

 This quantity however, as in the case of urea, is subject to considerable 

 variation, even in condition of health, depending upon the quantity of 

 nitrogenous food ingested. When the conditions are normal, and the 

 diet rational, the excretion of uric acid and urea runs nearly parallel, 

 (average 1-45, Salkowsky). A meat diet causes an increase, a vegetable 

 diet a diminution in the quantity of uric acid excreted. An increased ex- 

 cretion always follows excessive muscular exercise. Infants and children 

 excrete relatively greater amounts than adults. Uric acid may be consid- 

 ered as a direct waste product resulting from the decomposition of nuclein. 

 Nuclein is derived from certain complex proteid bodies, known as nucleo- 



