482 LIQUID PARTS OF ANIMALS. 



action, and deposited a sediment consisting entirely of mucus 

 of the bladder, They could find no trace of uric acid ; but the 

 other constituents were present in their usual proportions. 



I have seen cases seemingly connected with catarrhus vesicse 

 in which the urine when voided was usually alkaline and muddy, 

 and had an excessively disagreeable smell. But I never had an 

 opportunity of examining such urine chemically. The urine could 

 be completely evacuated only by means of the catheter. 



When urine contains pus it is muddy or soon becomes so. It 

 gradually deposits a sediment and becomes transparent. The 

 sediment is white, opaque, and in clots. When treated with 

 ether it gives out a great deal of fatty matter. When mixed 

 with ammonia it becomes gelatinous. It burns, when dried, with 

 a vivid flame. The urine when heated deposits albumen. This 

 urinary portion will be alkaline if the pus exists in considerable 

 quantity. 



When pus is mixed with urine, the conversion of the urea in- 

 to carbonate of ammonia is hastened. 



10. But the disease in which the urine changes its nature most 

 remarkably is diabetes. There are two species of this disease ; 

 namely, diabetes insipidus and diabetes mellitus. In the first the 

 urine is nearly tasteless ; in the second, it is sweet, containing a 

 considerable quantity of sugar of grapes. 



In diabetes insipidus the quantity of urine is greatly augment- 

 ed ; but it is colourless and tasteless. The specific gravity of the 

 urine is low. In two cases treated in the Glasgow Infirmary, 

 Mr Macgregor found the specific gravity to vary from 1 -003 to 

 1'005. The urea voided daily in these two cases was 310 and 

 400 grains. Mr Macgregor does not mention the quantity of 

 urine voided daily. Opium was found to palliate but not to cure 

 this disease.* 



Diabetes mellitus (judging from the number of hospital cases), 

 seems to be a more common disease in Glasgow than in London. 

 The average number of diabetic patients admitted into the Glas- 

 gow Infirmary yearly is 5. In this disease the quantity of urine 

 is greatly augmented, sometimes amounting to 70 Ibs avoirdupois 

 hi 24 hours. Mr Macgregor mentions a case in the Glasgow 



* Macgregor's Experimental Enquiry, p. 11. 



