URINE. 2/3 



the addition of nitric acid to the urine. Urea, uric acid, mucus, 

 and a good deal of phosphoric and lactic acid were present. Sub- 

 sequently the albumen and bile-pigment disappeared, and the 

 earthy phosphates returned. 



In vesical catarrh the urine is generally very pale, and always 

 contains a greater or less amount of mucus. The feeble acid 

 reaction which it possesses at the period of its emission is fre- 

 quently lost in a very short time, and it becomes neutral or 

 alkaline, and a quantity of the earthy phosphates, (especially of 

 crystals of ammoniaco-magnesian phosphate, 1 ) becomes mixed 

 with the mucus. The quantity of mucus which is separated is 

 sometimes very bulky. 



Schonlein remarks that we may possibly be able to deter- 

 mine the seat and the extent of the blennorrhcea from the 

 quality and the amount of mucus. Mucus secreted from the 

 mucous membrane of the bladder forms an uniform mass, and 

 is tenacious and thready, while that secreted by the mucous 

 membrane of the ureters and of the pelvis of the kidney is, on 

 the contrary, flocculent : if the tenacious and the flocculent forms 

 of mucus are both found at one and the same time, we are jus- 

 tified in assuming that the bladder, ureters, and pelvis are simul- 

 taneously affected. Willis, 2 in speaking of cystorrhoea, states that 

 in acute vesical catarrh accompanied by inflammatory fever, the 

 urine is scanty and highly coloured, and precipitates a much 

 greater quantity of tenacious mucus than usual ; also that in the 

 earlier stages of the disease it is sometimes ammoniacal, but 

 more frequently when the disease has continued for a long time. 

 In chronic vesical catarrh the urine is flocculent when it is 

 passed ; the flocculi increase with the advances of the disease, 

 and collecting at the bottom, form a tenacious mass which 

 may be drawn out into threads ; this mass sometimes assumes 

 the consistence of bird-lime, and exhibits spots of blood. 



As the disease advances still further, we often find a fourth 

 or even a third part of the urine to consist of mucus, so that 

 six to eight or even ten ounces are daily thrown off. Willis 



1 [It is worthy of observation that beautiful crystals of ammoniaco-magnesian 

 phosphate may be occasionally found in urine with a decidedly acid reaction.] 



2 Urinary Diseases and their Treatment, p. 399. 



ii. 18 



