400 URINE. 



speedily be elucidated by the scientific exposition of some 

 able inquirer. There is, however, one substance concealed in 

 these extractive matters, to which the attention of chemists has 

 been specially drawn by Scharling.* This substance is contained 

 in the ethereal extract of the urine, where it occurs mixed with 

 pigment, with a fatty matter, and with volatile fatty acids. Unfor- 

 tunately, however, all attempts to obtain this substance in a per- 

 fectly pure state for the purpose of investigation have hitherto 

 failed. This body, to which Scharling gave the name of oxide of 

 omichmy/, resembles resin, fuses in boiling water into a yellowish 

 oil, and dissolves in alcohol, ether, and alkalies. It must for the 

 present remain undetermined whether the acid reaction depends 

 upon some acid associated with it, or whether it appertains to the 

 oxide of omichmyl. When dry it smells like castoreum, but 

 when moist it has a somewhat urinous odour, and when treated 

 with oil of turpentine it developes a violet-like fragrance. It is 

 decomposed by heat. On treating it with chlorine gas, Scharling 

 obtained a substance whose composition was = C 14 H 5 C1 O 4 , 

 and therefore perfectly isomeric with chloride of salicyl. It must, 

 however, still remain an open question, whether the oxide of 

 omichmyl is actually precipitated, and the above described sub- 

 stance is a simple hydrogen- compound, C 14 H 6 O 4 , of the chlo- 

 ride analysed by Scharling, this compound being isomeric with 

 salicylous acid ; for it might easily be the product of decomposition 

 of a more complicated compound. Unfortunately the above 

 described body was unfit for an elementary analysis, as it could 

 not be exhibited in a perfectly pure state. This oxide of omichmyl 

 did not yield the same reaction as the salicyl-compounds, when 

 treated with nitrate of iron. 



Mucous juice, as already mentioned, always occurs in the 

 normal urine, although it is often present in very small quantities. 

 It exhibits all the properties which are ascribed to the mucous 

 juice generally (see p. 372). 



We have already (see vol. i., p. 44) shown at length that 

 oxalate of lime must be regarded as a normal constituent of the 

 urine, in which it occurs in increased quantities during certain 

 physiological and pathological conditions. 



The chlorides of sodium and potassium occur in very variable 

 quantities in the urine, as has been already stated (in vol. i., p. 430) 

 It only remains for us to observe, that the quantities of the 



* Ann. d. Ch. u. Pharm. Bd. 42, S. 265. 



