278 DR. ROBERTS ON THE DIURNAL 
re-establishment of the acid reaction, must be propor- 
tionally diminished. It is also extremely probable that 
there is, to some extent, an increased production of uric 
acid in the blood after food, and that a portion of the 
increased elimination is due to this. 
Remote Effects of a Meal. 
Although, as we have seen, the immediate effect of a 
meal was to depress the acidity of the urine, the more 
remote consequence was to uphold and even to increase the 
acidity. It has already been pointed out, that if we take 
the amount of acid separated per hour as our standard of 
comparison, the quantity discharged was greater during 
the period immediately following the re-establishment of 
the normal reaction than at any other period either pre- 
vious or subsequent. And this has been explained to 
have depended on the high activity of the kidneys at that 
time. But there is another and still more remote effect 
of a meal, which comes out under different relations, 
and which is seen most distinctly, when a comparison is 
made between the acidity of the urine on mornings suc- 
ceeding supperless nights and that of the urine on morn- 
ings following a hearty supper. In the former case, the 
mean hourly rate of acid discharged between seven and 
eight a.m. was only 0°51; im the latter it was 0°88, or 
nearly double. And not only was the hourly discharge 
thus increased, but even the degree of acidity per 1000 
showed a slight rise—the mean numbers being for the 
mornings after supperless nights 1:83, and for mornings 
after a supper 2°15. This latter calculation, however, did 
not always exhibit results in accordance with this general 
mean, and exceptions occurred; but for the hourly calcu- 
lation, all the separate results were consistent, sometimes 
in a greater, sometimes in a less degree, with the general 
mean. 
It is important to bear these particulars in mind, for 
