422 URINE. 



the ferrocyanide of potassium and other substances which were 

 tried, appeared less rapidly in the urine when the experiments were 

 made shortly after meals. 



The period during which a foreign body remains in the animal 

 organism is extremely various ; here also it depends upon the 

 solubility of the substance in question, and especially upon its 

 chemical nature, whether a longer or a shorter time be required for 

 its elimination. Substances of easy solubility are, as a general 

 rule, rapidly removed from the body by the urine ; thus I have 

 seen the alkaline reaction of the urine disappear in as short a space 

 as ten hours after a dose of two drachms of acetate of potash, wl die 

 once after a dose of three drachms of bicarbonate of soda, it remained 

 alkaline for three days. The idiosyncracy of each individual 

 patient appears, however, to exert an influence on these relations. 

 This is best observed in experimenting with iodide of potassium ; in 

 some persons no trace of this substance can be detected in the urine 

 twenty-four hours after a dose of ten grains has been taken, while 

 in others its presence may often be recognised after three days, both 

 in the urine and also in the saliva. Substances which enter into in- 

 soluble chemical compounds with animal matters, are eliminated from 

 the body only very slowly, and usually less through the urine than 

 through the intestinal canal ; metals, as is well known, are found 

 after a very long time in the liver and in other parts. 



We now proceed to the consideration of those substances which 

 usually only occur in morbid urine, 



Although an extremely large number of observations have been 

 made regarding the occurrence of albumen in the urine, it has only 

 been found to be constantly present in certain affections of the 

 kidneys. Since we have possessed a more accurate knowledge of 

 those forms of renal disorder which we know as Bright's disease, 

 it has been established as a result of experience that albumen is 

 always present in the urine in this affection, although its quantity 

 may be so small that it may appear to be altogether absent. In 

 the chronic form of Brighfs disease the amount of albumen in the 

 urine is often considerably diminished, if any acute or inflammatory 

 disease be simultaneously present. The quantity of albumen in 

 Bright's disease is, however, sometimes so considerable that, on 

 heating, the whole fluid solidifies into a yellowish white coagulum. 

 We cannot mention any other disease in which albuminuria is a 

 constant symptom. Albumen is, however, very frequently present 

 in the urine in all those diseases with which uraemia is associated, 

 and particularly in. scarlatina and other acute exanthemata, and most 



