URINE. 247 



the same time clear and abundant, there was scarcely any risk 

 in giving a favorable prognosis.] 



In some cases in which the patients recovered, the dark urine 

 did not become alkaline quickly enough to be perceived during 

 the hospital-visit, but by the evening it would deposit a con- 

 siderable dirty viscid sediment composed of earthy phosphates 

 and mucus, and would have a well-marked alkaline reaction : 

 subsequently it retained its acidity for a longer period, until 

 at length it resumed its normal condition. On the other 

 hand, I observed one case in which the urine was dark, had an 

 acid reaction, and only became slightly alkaline for a short time 

 before death ; it continued throughout of this dark colour, was 

 turbid, and threw down a mucous sediment. In another case 

 the urine, which was of a dark, muddy colour, remained acid 

 till death. 



Lastly, I will refer to two cases of typhus in girls, where the 

 urine continued of a dark colour, and exhibited an acid reac- 

 tion, throughout the course of the disease, which lasted from 

 three to four weeks. During convalescence it became turbid, and 

 deposited an imperfect sediment ; although it did not entirely 

 lose its acid reaction, it now became sooner animoniacal than 

 before. 



In a child the urine was clear and almost amber-coloured ; 

 it became, however, quickly alkaline, and deposited a viscid, 

 white sediment of earthy-phosphates. Dark acid urine I 

 have frequently found to be slightly albuminous. From these 

 observations, as well as from those of Willis, Pelletan, and 

 others, we arrive at the conclusion that in a regular and 

 favorable case of typhus the urine loses its acid and assumes an 

 alkaline reaction ; that it then again becomes gradually acid, 

 although not perhaps in the exact reverse proportion, and that 

 it does not necessarily reassume the dirty-brown colour which it 

 possessed during the first period: consequently the transition of 

 the urine in typhus from the acid to the alkaline condition need 

 not be so much dreaded as has been generally supposed. 



I cannot positively assert that the urine in typhus is alkaline 

 at the moment of its emission from the bladder. Becquerel 

 expresses himself opposed to the idea; he considers that alka- 



