364 PHYSIOLOGICAL CHEMISTRY. 



amount is greater than after a meat diet. After taking carbolic 

 acid, which is in great part converted by synthesis within the or- 

 ganism into phenol-ethereal sulphuric acid, pyrocatechin- and 

 hydrochinon-sulphuric acid, and also when the amount of sulphuric 

 acid is not sufficient to combine with the phenol forming phenyl- 

 glycuronic acid, the amount of phenol and ethereal sulphuric acids 

 in the urine is considerably increased at the expense of the sulphate- 

 sulphuric acid. 



An increased elimination of phenol-sulphuric acid occurs in 

 active putrefaction in the intestines with stoppage of the con- 

 tents of the intestine, as in ileus, diffused peritonitis with atonia 

 of the intestine, or tuberculous enteritis, but not in simple ob- 

 struction. The elimination is also increased by the absorption of 

 the products of putrefaction from purulent wounds or abscesses. 

 An increased elimination of phenol has been observed in a few 

 other cases of diseased conditions of the body. 



The alkali salts of phenol- and cresol-sulphuric acids crystallize 

 in white plates, similar to mother-of-pearl, which are rather freely 

 soluble in water. They are soluble in boiling alcohol, but only 

 slightly soluble in cold. On boiling with dilute mineral acids they 

 are decomposed into sulphuric acid and the corresponding phenol. 



Phenol-sulphuric acids have been synthetically prepared by 

 BAUMANN from potassium pyrosulphate and phenol- or p-cresol-po- 

 tassium. For the method of their preparation from urine, which is 

 rather complicated, the reader is referred to other text-books. The 

 quantitative estimation of these ethereal sulphuric acids is done by 

 BAUMANN and BRIEGER by determining the amount of phenol 

 which may be separated from the urine as tribromphenol. In this 

 determination, when the urine is not specially rich in phenol, about 

 one fourth of the total quantity in the twenty-four hours is used; 

 it is acidified with concentrated hydrochloric acid 5 c. c. for every 

 100 c. c. of urine and distilled until a portion of the distillate 

 does not give the slighest reaction for phenol with MILLON'S re- 

 agent or with bromine-water. The distillate is now carefully neu- 

 tralized with soda solution (which combines with the benzoic acid, 

 etc.) and again distilled until a portion of the distillate is free from 

 phenol, as shown by the above-mentioned reagents. This distillate 

 is treated with bromine-water until a permanent yellow color is 

 produced, and then allowed to stand for about twenty-four hours 

 in the cold; the crystalline precipitate then is collected on a small 



