420 FIRST CLASS OF MINERAL CONSTITUENTS. 



turbid by the presence of much carbonate of lime contains a very 

 small quantity of alkaline carbonates, and often has only a very 

 slight reaction on turmeric paper, while clear urine is usually 

 rich in alkaline carbonates. Hence it is easy to see why urinary 

 calculi consisting of carbonate of lime are of very common occurrence 

 in herbivorous animals. 



Carbonate of lime sometimes also occurs in human urine with 

 an alkaline reaction ; and indeed sometimes, although very rarely, 

 we meet with human urinary calculi, consisting for the most part 

 of carbonate of lime. Proust* was the first who made this obser- 

 vation ; but similar calculi have been since found by Cooper, 

 Prout,f Smith, G6bel,{ and Fromherz. 



In animal concretions, we sometimes find considerable quan- 

 tities of carbonate of lime deposited with the phosphate. Thus, 

 Geiger|| found 21'7 of carbonate and 46*7 of phosphate of lime 

 in a nasal concretion ; I found 24 '3 of carbonate and 69. 7 of 

 phosphate of lime in a phlebolith, and Schlossberger^f 8*3 of carbo- 

 nate and 50*4 of phosphate of lime in a similar concretion : 

 Walchner** found 23-g- of carbonate and 50 of phosphate of lime 

 in a concretion from the heart of a man with hydrothorax, and 

 Johnff found 66* 7 of carbonate and 25% of phosphate of lime in a 

 concretion taken from a stag's heart. Some stony concretions 

 from the peritoneum of a man were found by BleyJ J to contain 34-g- 

 of carbonate and only 19*32^ of phosphate of lime; Lassaigne 

 found 83*36 of carbonate of lime in a salivary concretion from a 

 horse. I need hardly advert to the frequency with which we meet 

 with tolerably large quantities of carbonate of lime in the micro- 

 scopico-chemical investigation of indurated or ossified tumours, as 

 for instance, chalky tubercle. 



Carbonate of lime in the crystalline state is very rarely found 

 in the human organism ; the only place where it constantly occurs 

 in the normal state is the utriculus of the membranous vestibule || || of 



* A. Gehlen's Journ. Bd. 3, S. 532. 



t Thomson's Annals of Philos. vol. 15, p. 436. 



I Troramsdorf's n. Journ. Bd. 9, S. 198. 



Schweigg. Journ. Bd. 46, S. 3 29 . 



|| Mag. f. Pharm. Bd. 21, S. 247. 



1 Ann. d. Ch. u. Pharm. Bd. 69, S. 254. 



** Mag. f. Pharm. Bd. 19, S. 152. 



ft Chem. Schriften. Bd. 5, S. 155. 



$ Arch. d. Pharm. Bd. 20, S. 212. 



Journ. de Chim. meM. 1845. p. 523. 



HI) [It occurs also in the sacculus, and is sometimes scattered in the cells lining 

 the ampulla and semi-circular canals. o. E. D.] 



