282 THE SECRETIONS: 



the mucous membrane, and is frequently a precursor of the 

 desquamation of the cuticle. The tubes described as occurring 

 in Bright's disease are occasionally found in this form of 

 sediment. 



In variola and varicella the urine changes with the various 

 stages of the disease,, and with the nature of the fever which 

 is present. 



Urine of a synochal character is, however, often met with, 

 especially during the first stage of the disease, when the fever 

 has a synochal type. 



Becquerel examined the urine of eleven persons with variola, 

 and of ten with varicella. In a case of varicella in which the 

 early symptoms (les prodromes) were extremely severe, the urine 

 was passed in very small quantity, of a deep red colour, and a 

 specific gravity of 1022-7. 



In a case of varicella in which the early symptoms were 

 scarcely perceptible, the urine remained normal. Schonlein 

 states that in the first stage of this disease the urine is often as 

 limpid as in hysteria. During the eruptive stage, the state of 

 the urine depends upon the intensity of the fever which accom- 

 panies the appearance of the exanthema. 



In five out of the eleven cases of variola observed by Becquerel 

 the symptoms accompanying the eruption were very severe; 

 the urinary secretion was diminished, and amounted on 

 an average to only 23 -5 ounces in twenty-four hours. The 

 specific gravity had not, however, increased so much as might 

 have been supposed, being only 1020-6. It frequently threw 

 down uric-acid precipitates, either spontaneously, or on the ad- 

 dition of nitric acid, and in one case a little albumen was ob- 

 served. 



M. Solon found the urine coagulable in five out of eleven 

 cases of variola. When the inflammatory symptoms, during 

 the eruption, are slight, the urine hardly differs from the normal 

 state. During the suppurative stage of variola, Becquerel ob- 

 served that the urine retained the synochal character as long as 

 the febrile symptoms continued, in all the eleven cases. In 

 three of these cases which terminated fatally, it continued in 

 this state to the last. 



