276 DR. ROBERTS ON THE DIURNAL 
clear alkaline urines after breakfast was, therefore, con- 
siderably greater than after dinner. 
The degree of turbidity varied from a barely perceptible 
cloudiness to a thick muddy opacity. The deposit sub- 
sided quickly and left a clear, yellowish-amber supernatant 
liquor, often with a greenish tinge. 
The odour of this urine was peculiar, and so distinctive 
that its alkaline reaction could with certainty be predi- 
cated, without the aid of test paper, simply by the sense 
of smell. It was altogether devoid of the characteristic 
urinous odour, and exhaled a strong sweetish aroma re- 
sembling that of the fresh urine of the horse. The more 
strongly alkaline it was, the more powerful was this odour, 
and vice versd. 
The proportion of alkaline and earthy phosphates in the 
urine of the alkaline tide was found to be considerably 
increased. The quantity separated during the two hours 
preceding dinner and that separated during the third and 
fourth hours after dinner was subjected to comparison. 
The hourly separation of the earthy phosphates was found, 
on an average of six days, nearly doubled after dinner ; 
and the alkaline phosphates rose from 3°47 grains to 4°90 
grains per hour. ‘This increase was not owing to the 
quickened activity of the secretory organs, for the propor- 
tion per 1000 of the liquid urine and the proportion per 
100 grains of the solid urine exhibited an equally marked 
elevation. 
The quantity of wric acid was ascertained for three 
periods on each of the seven days composing Table III., 
namely, in the urine of the alkaline tide after dinner (from 
four to seven) ; in the acid urine passed between nine and 
eleven; and lastly, in the urine of sleep. The average for 
the seven days, at each of these periods, may be seen from 
the following table. 
