312 THE SECRETIONS: 



tity of mucus. It was neutral but speedily became alkaline. 

 Its specific gravity was 1007, and it contained in 1 000 parts : 



Water .... 978-40 



Solid constituents . . . 21-60 



Urea .... 8-40 



Uric acid .... mere traces. 

 Extractive matter and traces of albumen . 7'11 



Fixed salts, chiefly chloride of sodium 6-00 ] 



In anasarca the properties of the urine appear to vary; it 

 frequently contains albumen in abundance, 1 while on other oc- 

 casions there is not a trace of it. 



Becquerel relates the case of a girl 9 years of age, who, after 

 being exposed to a sudden and violent chill, was attacked with 

 anasarca on the following day. The skin was hot, and the pulse 

 feverish ; after a short time peritoneal effusion came on, but the 

 urine contained no trace of albumen. It was deeply coloured, 

 of high specific gravity, and frequently deposited a uric-acid sedi- 

 ment. 



In five cases in which anasarca succeeded general debility 

 (dropsy from anaemia,) Becquerel found the urine very pale, of 

 low specific gravity (from 1009 to 1012,) and of a greenish tint. 

 In one case he found a little albumen. 



Graves 2 relates a case in which a labourer, after getting 

 chilled, suffered much from fever and anasarca. The urine was 

 pale, straw-coloured, very ammoniacal, and formed a sediment 

 of earthy phosphates ; it contained scarcely a trace of albumen. 

 Willis, on the contrary, with hardly an exception, found the 

 urine albuminous when the anasarca arose from cold. 



[Scherer 3 examined the urine of a man with anasarca suc- 

 ceeding a severe attack of broncho-pneumonia, from which he 

 was recovering. The urine contained blood. After taking 



1 Rayer, Bright, and Christison are of opinion that when albuminous urine occurs 

 with anasarca, it is a certain indication of incipient organic change in the kidney, 

 while on the other hand Blackall and Graves regard the appearance of albumen as a 

 consequence of a general inflammatory diathesis. Becquerel adopts an intermediate 

 view ; he attributes the appearance of albumen in the urine in inflammatory affections 

 to a transitory congestion of the cortical substance, similar to that which is found in 

 the first stage of Bright's disease. 



8 Urinary Diseases and their Treatment, by R. Willis, M.D., p. 126. 



3 Untersuchungen, &c., p. 48. 



