456 URINE 



sediment by filtration effervesced strongly with acids, became of a 

 reddish brown and almost of a black colour on evaporation, con- 

 tained a large quantity of hippuric acid, &c. A very powerful 

 cavalry horse, seven years old, and fed upon hay, oats, and straw, 

 passed a brownish yellow, very alkaline urine, which contained 

 only a small amount of earthy carbonates ; the same horse, when 

 fed upon oats and straw, without hay, discharged urine which 

 was very turbid from the presence of earthy carbonates, whose 

 reaction was scarcely alkaline, and which, when filtered, did not 

 effervesce with acids. 



The urine of cattle has been frequently analysed by Boussingault 

 and v. Bibra. On examining it shortly after its discharge, I have 

 always found it clear, of a bitter taste, a pale yellow colour, and with 

 a strong alkaline reaction: it contains much sulphate and 

 bicarbonate of potash and magnesia, but very little lime; according 

 to Boussingault, it contains no phosphates, very little chloride of 

 sodium, but on the other hand, a large amount of lactate of potash ; 

 according to v. Bibra, the quantities of urea and hippurate of potash 

 are liable to great variations, even when the feeding and external con- 

 ditions remain unchanged. 1 have always found oxalate of lime in 

 the sediment, but, like Boussingault, I have never been able to 

 detect ammoniacal salts in the fresh urine of oxen. This urine 

 generally contains from 8 to 9-- of solid constituents, of which from 

 1*8 to 1'9-g- are urea. The hippuric acid varied, according to v. Bibra, 

 from 0'55 to 1*20 g-. Boussingault found free carbonic acid gas 

 in it, in addition to alkaline bicarbonates. 



The urine of calves differs very much from that of cattle, and 

 approximates more in its composition to the allantoic fluid of the 

 foetus. It appears from the investigations of Braconnot and W6hler,t 

 that the urine of calves, as long as they are sucking or arc 

 fed on milk, is almost colourless, clear, devoid of odour, of 

 very little taste, and with a strong acid reaction, which it does not 

 lose even on evaporation. Wohler's discovery, that allantoine 

 is the principal organic constituent of this urine, has been already 

 noticed in p. 175 of the first volume. According to Wohler, it 

 appears, further, to contain urea and likewise uric acid, in the same 

 proportions as they occur in normal human urine; hippuric acid, 

 on the other hand, cannot be discovered in it. It contains a very 

 considerable amount of phosphate of magnesia and of the potash 

 salts, but only very small quantities of the phosphates, sulphates, 



* Ann. de Cliim. et de Phys. 3 Ser. T. 20, p. 238247. 



t Nachr. d. k. Gcsollsch. d. Wiss. zu Gottuigen. 1849. No. 5, S. Cl G4. 



