TAURINE. 179 



and Bird. Bird* and Mandlf remark that they have often found 

 cystine dissolved in the urine, from which Bird precipitates it by 

 acetic acid ; it also occurs as a sediment mixed with urate of soda. 

 The pathological process accompanying the appearance of cystine in 

 the urine is altogether unknown. Bird thinks there is some con- 

 nexion between it and the scrofulous diathesis ; others fancy that 

 they see a connexion between cystine and diabetes ; but none of 

 these conjectures are supported by the results of experience. In 

 the examination of 129 urinary calculi, Taylor found only two 

 that contained cystine. This substance has been found nowhere 

 but in the urine. 



Origin. As no other urinary constituent contains sulphur J, the 

 occurrence of this highly sulphurous body in the urine is the more 

 singular, and we should consequently expect that some essential al- 

 teration of the chemico-vital processes must have taken place before 

 this substance could be produced, but all that we learn from the si- 

 multaneous morbid phenomena completely disappoints us in the as- 

 sumption that the excretion of cystine must probably be preceded by 

 a certain group of symptoms, from which something might be con- 

 cluded regarding the production of this body. Taurine is the only 

 other body with which we are acquainted that is equally rich in 

 sulphur; no other animal bodies in which sulphur occurs, as albu- 

 men, casein, fibrin, &c. contain at most more than 2^-, while in this 

 substance there is 25^. Hence, in a chemical point of view, a con- 

 nexion might be suspected between taurine and cystine, and the 

 rational physician should consequently direct his attention to the 

 manner in which the functions of the liver are performed, when- 

 ever cystine presents itself in the urine. 



TAURINE. C 4 H 7 NS 2 O 6 . 



Properties. This substance which was formerly termed biliary 

 asparagin, crystallises in colourless, regular hexagonal prisms with 

 four and six-sided sharp extremities, (the elementary form is that 

 of a right rhombic prism, the angles formed by the edges of the 

 sides being 11144 and 6816) ; it is hard, craunches between the 

 teeth, has a cooling taste, resists the action of the atmosphere, 



* Urinary Deposits, &c. 3rd Edition, p. 188. 



f Journ de Chim. med. 1838, p. 355. 



$ [This statement is too general. Dr. Ronalds has shewn that the extractive 

 matters of the urine contain an unknown sulphur-compound. See Phil. Trans. 

 1846, p. 461. G. E. D.] 



N 2 



