310 THE SECRETIONS: 



also diminished. It appears either of a dark red or brown 

 colour without sediments, (as when the ascites arises from dis- 

 organization of the female generative organs, or of the pancreas,) 

 or it throws down copious lateritious or fawn-coloured sediments, 

 (as in diseases of the liver, spleen, or vena portse ;) sometimes it 

 is coloured with bile as in jaundice. (Schonlein.) 



Becquerel likewise observed that the urine in ascites arising 

 from disease of the liver, is scanty, highly coloured, and almost 

 always throws down a dark or reddish sediment of uric acid. 



In dropsy from disease of the heart the urine, according to 

 Becquerel, assumes various phases ; it may be pale or highly 

 coloured, clear or turbid, with or without sediments, and may 

 or may not contain albumen . He also observes that in thS ad- 

 vanced stage of hypertrophy of the heart there is a state of 

 hypersemia induced in some other organs, especially a good deal 

 of congestion of the kidneys, much as occurs in the first stage 

 of Bright's disease, which causes a change in the elimination of 

 the urine from the blood, and accounts for the transitory pre- 

 sence of albumen, the same as we observe in severe inflamma- 

 tory affections. 



When the dropsical symptoms are consequent upon disease 

 of the heart alone, the urine, according to Becquerel, is not so 

 much changed as when hepatic disease, (especially cirrhosis,) is 

 associated with it : it is then scanty, deeply coloured and often 

 reddish, very acid, of high specific gravity (1025 1029), and 

 usually throws down a copious reddish sediment of uric acid and 

 urate of ammonia. 



When the dropsy arises from the combined influence of an 

 affection of the heart and Bright's disease, the urine ordinarily 

 assumes the special characters of the latter disorder, which have 

 been already described. If, however, the disease of the heart 

 causes much functional disturbance, the urine becomes deeply 

 coloured, more acid, and deposits a sediment. 



When the dropsy arises solely from disease of the kidneys, 

 the urine is always albuminous : the majority of these cases 

 fall under Blight's disease, which has been already noticed. I 

 examined the urine of a young man 22 years of age, in a far 

 advanced stage of ascites, and whose subsequent dissection re- 

 vealed suppuration of the kidneys. The urine was pale, turbid, 



