Dr. Ronalds on Sulphur and Phosphorus hi Urine. 253 



of the world, and enable us to form a better judgement of the 

 alterations which take place in other parts. The daily range 

 of the barometer at Poonah, which is on the eastern side of 

 the ridge of the Ghauts, and far from the sea, is about as 

 great as it is at Bombay. There can be no sea breeze at 

 Poonah, as the mountain range is between it and the sea ; 

 but are there not diurnal winds of similar character to those 

 on the coast? Corresponding registrations at Poonah, Bom- 

 bay, and some intervening place on the west of the Ghauts, 

 might furnish vaUiable additions to our stock of meteorological 

 information, and enable us to trace the operating causes as 

 they pass from one meridian to another, and might thus fur- 

 nish us with more conclusive evidence of the nature and causes 

 of the hourly alterations which occur in the atmosphere than 

 any that can be adduced at present. 



XLI. Remarks on the Extractive Material of Uri?ie, and on 

 the Excretion of Sidphir and Phosphorus by the Kidneys in 

 an tmoxidizcd state. By Edmund RoNALDS,P/i. Z).,Gz>ss£'?2*. 



COME months back, at the instigation of Dr. Golding Bird, 

 ^ I undertook some experiments to ascertain whether, in 

 cases of diseased and imperfect function of the lungs or liver, 

 when the normal quantity of carbon could not be discharged 

 from the system by those channels, the kidneys undertook an 

 extra duly, and whether under such circumstances an excess 

 of carbon could be shown in the urine above that usually 

 secreted under healthy conditions. 



Should this question be answered in the affirmative, and 

 should it be found that a larger amount of carbon was excreted 

 by the urine in persons affected with such diseases, a practical 

 application might reasonably be made of the fact. For by 

 stimulating the kidneys to still greater exertion, the amount of 

 work required of the lungs or of the liver could be lessened, 

 and thus a better chance offered them of being restored to a 

 healthy state. 



The method proposed for solving this problem was, to pre- 

 cipitate the urine of different patients suffering from diseases 

 of the kinds mentioned, with basic acetate of lead, keeping it 

 sliglitly alkaline by the addition of a few drops of ammonia, 

 then to ascertain the amount of organic matter contained in 

 the precipitate, and in particular the amount of carbon, and 

 lastly to compare these quantities with those obtained in a 

 similar manner from the urine of healthy individuals. 



• From the Philosophical Transactions for I84(;, part iv. ; having been 

 received liy the Royal Society April 2.j, and read June 18, 184G. 



