URINE. 275 



clear, while that discharged in the course of the day often 

 formed only slight deposits. As the urine in rheumatism often 

 throws down sediments even at the height of the disease, the 

 deposits which are formed can only be regarded as significant 

 of a true crisis when the supernatant urine is perfectly clear. 

 Eisenmann 1 remarks that the properties of the urine may un- 

 dergo a change if the disease continues for a long time ; for 

 instance, if it should take a hypodynamic character, the urine, 

 instead of being acid, will assume an alkaline reaction, and will 

 give off a fetid ammoniacal odour. 



When the disease takes on the hypodynamic type, without 

 having previously exhibited a hyperdynamic character, the urine 

 instead of being red, is then, according to Stork's observations, 

 pale, frequently thick, turbid, and fetid. 



Becquerel has made quantitative analyses of the urine in 

 several cases of rheumatism. He found the relative proportions 

 of the solid constituents the same as in inflammation a fact 

 that had been previously observed by Henry 2 who found a 

 large amount of urea in his own urine during rheumatic fever. 



The urine of a man aged 30 years (Anal. 1), who had been 

 bled for acute rheumatism, was very deeply coloured, and on 

 the addition of a little nitric acid threw down a copious sedi- 

 ment. It also threw down a spontaneous sediment of a reddish 

 colour after standing for two hours. The specific gravity was 

 101 7'2. The urine of the same man was analysed another day, 

 (Anal. 2). It was of a very dark colour, almost like blood, 

 and had a specific gravity of 1018-0. The urine in the third 

 analysis was taken from a man aged 38 years, whose pulse 

 was 104 in the minute. It was of yellowish-red colour, and 

 threw down a sediment of uric acid on the addition of a few 

 drops of nitric acid. 



Die Krankheitsfamilie Rheuma, p. 51. 2 Journ. de Pharm. 15, p. 228. 



