112 REPORT—1857. 
When the quantity of albumen held in solution is very small, the microscope 
affords much aid in its detection. If a drop of the suspected liquid be placed on a 
slip of glass in the field of the microscope, and a drop of nitric acid be added, a cloud 
of minute vesicles will be observed to pass slowly over the field of view ; and if the 
line of advance of this cloud be closely observed, the suddenness with which the 
constituent vesicles start into view from an apparently structureless fluid, cannot 
fail to arrest attention. These minute bodies present a highly refractive margin, with 
a light centre, and an average diameter of ;,3,,th part of an inch. 
Experiment 3.—A young dog, weighing 12lbs. 70z., was next subjected to experi- 
ment. The urine collected before operating was free of albumen and alkaline, specific 
gravity 1005. Blood was now drawn from the jugular vein to the amount of 5 ounces, 
and into the aperture in the vessel was injected 3ss of fresh dilute ov.-albumen 
having the temperature and density of blood-serum. Bread and warm milk were 
given as food, and ravenously eaten. The following day it was found that no urine 
had been passed in the interim; the second day after (Aug. 27th), 4 ounces of 
urine were collected, neutral in reaction, of specific gravity 1030, and highly albu- 
menous, being almost gelatinized by heat and nitric acid. The albumen was coagu- 
lated and collected by filtration, dried, pulverized, and freed from impurities by ether 
and boiling water, subsequently dried and incinerated; the total quantity of pure 
albumen thus obtained was 9 grains. In order to determine what proportion of 
this was due to the ov-albumen injected, and what, if any, to the ser-albumen dis- 
charged in consequence of the bleeding, I ascertained the amount of pure dried albu- 
men yielded by half an ounce of the white of egg, and found it to be 723 grains. 
I had expected, and probably would have found, had the operative part of the ex- 
periment been in all respects successful, a balance in favour of the albumen excreted 
in the urine, as compared with the quantity contained in half an ounce of the white 
of egg, but unfortunately, at the moment when the last portion of albumen was in- 
jected, and before a ligature could be applied to the open vessel, the dog struggled 
violently and caused a fresh loss of blood, with probably a more than proportionate 
loss of the albumen injected, as the bleeding occurred chiefly by regurgitation from 
the heart. Five ounces of urine were obtained from this dog on 28th August, but 
containing no trace of albumen. 
With regard to the action of urea on the blood-corpuscles, when exposed for a few 
hours to a concentrated solution of urea, the corpuscles become tumid and many 
entirely disappear ; the action, however, is slow and feeble. 
The proportion of albumen in the different dropsical effusions next engaged my 
attention. Ifthe hypothesis be well-founded, namely, that albuminaria is the result 
of an effort of the blood to restore the equilibrium between its corpuscles and albu- 
men by ridding itself of a portion of the latter, then we might not unreasonably ex- 
pect to find the blood-serum effused coincidently into the cellular tissue and serous 
cavities, bearing evidence of the same tendency by containing an excess of albumen. 
With the view of determining this point by comparison between the fluids of renal 
and cardiac dropsy, I analysed the serum obtained by acupuncture from two cases 
of renal anasarca, and compared the results with those obtained by Andral from his 
analyses of the serum of cardiac dropsy. The proportion of albumen obtained by 
Andral ranged between 4 and 48 parts in a thousand ; in my two analyses the pro- 
portion was 12 and 24 per thousand respectively. I should desire, before coming 
to any definite conclusion on this point, to pursue this portion of the inquiry still 
further. 
The inherent property of quantitative adjustment in the blood would appear to have 
reference mainly to nutrition, which requires as an essential condition for its healthy 
exercise, certain fixed mutual proportions between the constituent elements of the 
blood. The maintenance of the normal relative density of the serum and corpuscles 
is obviously subserved also by this property. 
The appearance of albumen in the urine is either transitory or persistent. When 
transitory, it is produced either by an error of excess in the use of proteine substances, 
ef which the blood seeks to relieve itself through the kidneys; or by a state of con- 
gestion of these organs, in which the blood-serum transudes to walls of the renal 
capillaries and is discharged with the urine. When persistent, it is probably always 
the result of continued loss or solution of the blood-corpuscles, and produced by an 
