226 



THE SECRETIONS: 



Hepatitis. 



Very different opinions have been expressed regarding the 

 constitution of the urine in hepatitis. 



Rose 1 asserts that, in several cases of acute and chronic 

 hepatitis, he found the urea entirely absent. In the acute forms 

 the urine was dark, in the chronic it was clear. It possessed no 

 urinous smell, and the specific gravity was lower than that of 

 healthy urine. Henry 2 found the urine, in a case of chronic in- 

 flammation of the liver, to be devoid of smell and colour, and of 

 a specific gravity of only 1003. The extract obtained by evapo- 

 ration gave no indications of urea on the addition of nitric acid. 

 Rose puts the question, which can only be answered by farther 

 analysis, whether the deficiency of urea arises from the actual in- 

 flammation of the liver, or from the dyspepsia that accompanies 

 it. According to Coindet, 3 the urine, in inflammation of the 

 liver, instead of urea, contains a substance resembling bilin. 



The analyses made by Becquerel and myself of the urine in 

 hepatitis do not correspond with these statements. I analysed 

 the urine of a man aged 36 years, who was suffering from acute 

 hepatitis. The urine was scanty, had an acid reaction, was of a 

 dark reddish-brown colour, and deposited a copious red sediment 

 of urate of ammonia and uric acid. On the addition of nitric acid 

 the brown colour of the urine changed into a decided green. It 

 likewise became turbid on the application of heat, so that it 

 contained both biliphasin and a little albumen. 



A quantitative analysis gave : 



Analysis 103. 



Water ..... 939-70 



Solid constituents .... 60-30 



Urea 



Uric acid 



Alcohol-extract 



Water- and spirit-extracts and albumen 



Earthy phosphates 



Sulphate of potash 



Phosphate of soda 



Chloride of sodium and carbonate of soda 



22-50 

 1-70 

 9-70 

 6-30 

 0-84 

 5-30 

 3-13 

 9-50 



The urate of ammonia was not estimated in that form, but 

 was reduced to uric acid by the addition of hydrochloric acid, 



1 Thomson's Annals of Philosophy, vol. 5, p. 423. 

 3 Stark's Allg. Pathologic, p. 1152. 



2 Ib. vol. 6, p. 392. 



