DENSITY OF THE URINE. 9 



which go by the name of extractive matters; and it possesses 

 besides certain colouring matters. 



The urine of the carnivora is acid, clear, and easily decom- 

 posed ; that of the herbivora is either alkaline, when secreted, 

 or very speedily becomes so; it is often muddy, and deposits 

 a sediment, and froths or effervesces on the addition of an 

 acid. These differences clearly depend upon the nature of 

 the food of these orders; for if a herbivorous animal be 

 subjected to a highly nitrogenized diet, the urine will 

 become acid, and vice versa* 



The density or specific gravity of the healthy urine of the 

 horse appears to range from 1030 to 1050. Von Bibra 

 found the urine of the ox to have a specific gravity ranging 

 between 1032 and 1040. The urine of pigs, according to 

 the same observer, had a density of 1010 to 1012, and that 

 of the goat was generally about 1008 or 1009. 



The amount of water in the urine varies very much. It 

 depends greatly upon the quantity of fluids which have been 

 taken into the system. According to Colin, the amount of 

 urine daily excreted by healthy horses varies from 15 to 25 

 litres (44-033 to 61-646 English pints). The amount of 

 water in 1 000 parts of the urine of the horse, according to 

 the analyses of Von Bibra, Boussingault, Fourcroy, and 

 Vauquelin, ranges from 880 to 930 parts. In the urine of 

 the ox, Von Bibra found, in two analyses, the amount of 

 water to be 912-01 and 923*11 in 1000 parts; and from 



* Acidity of the urine of the horse is often noticed, when the ani- 

 mal has from some cause been prevented from taking its usual food ; 

 thus it is often noticed in disease. A few days ago I happened to 

 examine the urine of a mare suffering from great constitutional irrita- 

 tion, in consequence of a severe injury of the knee joint and foot, and 

 I found that it presented the external characters of Imman urine, being 

 light coloured, quite clear, and having an acid reaction. The specific 

 gravity was 1006 



