240 THE SECRETIONS: 



of albumen, and did not contain a trace of hsematin, which 

 must consequently have been perfectly separated from the blood- 

 corpuscles before leaving the kidneys. The patient complained 

 of no pain (even on pressure) in the lumbar region. 



I received a specimen of urine from Dr. Broun, which had 

 been passed by a patient who for a long time had suffered from 

 considerable oedematous infiltration of the extremities. It gave 

 no indication of albumen, neither did it contain any of the 

 peculiar sediment which seems especially associated with renal 

 irritation. 



That in certain forms of dropsy the urine is albuminous, 

 while in others not a trace of albumen can be detected, has 

 been thoroughly demonstrated. In hydrothorax, and in dropsy 

 dependent on disease of the heart or the liver, there is generally 

 no albumen, whereas, if the dropsy arise from disease of the 

 kidney, albumen is generally present. In Blight's disease, as far 

 as my personal observations extend, it is always found, although 

 the opposite opinion is held by Graves. 1 



Cystitis. 



Two deviations from the normal condition are frequently 

 observed in the urine in cases of cystitis ; these are, its rapid 

 tendency to alkalinity, in consequence of the formation of car- 

 bonate of ammonia, so that it is sometimes alkaline even at the 

 period of emission ; and the large amount of mucus or muco- 

 pus. In the first stage of the disease the urine is, however, red, 

 possesses all the characters of genuine inflammatory urine, and 

 usually contains only a little mucus. 



In cystitis acuta the urine was observed by Schonlein to be 

 of a dark-red colour, and frequently to contain hsematoglobulin. 

 When the inflammation was caused by vesical calculi the urine 

 had a pale greenish colour. 



In a case of inflammation of the bladder, which was brought 

 on by the use of stimulating injections, Becquerel found that 

 the urine at first possessed the characters of the inflammatory 

 type, but these in part disappeared in consequence of the quan- 

 tity of the fluids drunk by the patient ; it was acid, of average 



1 Dublin Journal, No. 60. 



