URINE. 461 



considerable resemblance to that of sour milk. This smell gra- 

 dually passes off in its turn, and is succeeded by a fetid ammo- 

 niacal odour. This odour appears much sooner in the urine of 

 old individuals than in that of young persons. It has a disagree- 

 able, bitter, saline taste, of very various degrees of intensity, 

 sometimes so slight that it can barely be perceived. In such cases, 

 the urine is nearly colourless ; when high-coloured, the taste is 

 always strong. 



Nothing is more various than the colour of urine. Most com- 

 monly it is yellow, of various shades. Sometimes it passes into 

 orange, or even into red. It is said to be deeper in men than in 

 women, but I have not been able to satisfy myself that such a 

 difference exists. There is an intimate connection between the 

 depth of the shade and the quantity emitted. When the urine is 

 scanty it is always high-coloured ; hence one reason of the red 

 colour of urine in fevers. When the quantity emitted is great 

 the colour is. pale. I have seen it in cases of hysteria so nearly 

 colourless that the presence of the usual constituents ef urine 

 could only be discovered by concentrating it. By this treatment 

 it gradually acquires the yellow colour of common urine, and 

 may be even made red by carrying the concentration farther. Some- 

 times urine contains bile, which gives it an orange tint. Muriatic 

 acid changes the colour of urine containing bile to green. Oc- 

 casionally the colour of urine is so deep that it appears black. 

 This change is sometimes owing to a mixture of blood ; but some- 

 times to substances taken into the stomach. Thus, when prepa- 

 rations of iron are given at the same time with rhubarb the urine 

 is said to assume a blackish colour. Urine has frequently a red 

 colour, and the shade varies from rose-red to scarlet. Red urine 

 usually characterizes an inflammatory state of the system. Such 

 urine is always scanty. Other colours are mentioned by medical 

 men. Thus urine has been described as grayish, greenish, and 

 &w/f-coloured. Dr Prout mentions a case in which it threw up a 

 cream-like milk. Such urine might be called white, and proba- 

 bly owed its peculiar qualities to the presence of chyle. 



Lecanu* examined 93 different specimens of urine, and has 

 given us the following table of their colours : 

 28 had a light-yellow colour. 



* Jour, de Pharmacie, xxv. 694. 



