670 URINE. 



to arrest the uric-acid formation by the extirpation of the liver, apparently 

 shows that the liver is the only organ taking part in this synthesis. If a 

 synthesis of uric acid also occurs in man and other mammalia, we must 

 consider the liver as at least one of the organs taking part in the work, 

 as shown by WIENER'S investigations. The liver, spleen, and muscles 

 are considered as the most important organs in the oxidative formation 

 of uric-acid from nucleins and purine bases, but it must not be for- 

 gotten that these organs in different animals behave dissimilarly in this 

 regard. 



Uric acid when introduced into the mammalian organism is, as first 

 shown by WOHLER and FRERICHS, in the dog, and later substantiated 

 by several experimenters, 1 in great part destroyed and more or less com- 

 pletely changed into urea. In rabbits, according to WIENER, the uric 

 acid is destroyed with the formation of glycocoll as an intermediate step. 

 HIRSCHSTEIN has recently accepted this view, but WIECHOWSKI, SAMUELY, 

 BRUGSCH and SCHITTENHELM 2 dispute it. Still we must consider the 

 earlier opinion of WOHLER and FRERICHS as probably correct, that allan- 

 toin is the chief intermediary product. This is based upon the work of 

 SALKOWSKI, MENDEL and BROWN, MENDEL and WHITE, and WIECHOW- 

 SKI, but it is denied by WIENER, POHL and PODUSCHKA. The inter- 

 mediary transformation of uric acid into allantoin occurs, in WIECHOW- 

 SKi's 3 opinion, only in the mammals investigated, but not in man. 



The demolition of uric acid seems to be possible, according to the 

 numerous researches of CHASSEVANT and RICHET, ASCOLI, JACOBY, 

 WIENER, SCHITTENHELM, BURIAN, ALMAGIA, PFEIFFER, and WIECHOWSKI, 

 in several organs, such as the liver, kidneys, muscle, and bone-marrow, 

 although this behavior differs in various animals. This destruction of 

 uric acid, which is called uricolysis, is an enzymotic process. WIECHOW- 

 SKI and WIENER 4 have made careful investigations on the active 



1 Wohler and Frerichs ; Annal. d. Chem. u. Pharm., 65. See also Wiener, Ergeb- 

 nisse der Physiologie, 1, Abt. 1. 



2 Hirschstein, Zeitschr. f. exp. Path. u. Ther., 4, and Arch. f. exp. Path. u. Pharm., 

 59; Wiechowski, Hofmeister's Beitrage, 9; Samuely, Zeitschr. f. exp. Path. u. Ther., 

 4; Brugsch and Schittenhelm, ibid., 4. 



3 Wiener, Arch. f. exp. Path. u. Pharm., 40 and 42, and Ergebnisse der Physiologie, 

 1, Abt. 1; Pohl, Arch. f. exp. Path. u. Pharm., 48; Poduschka, ibid., 44; Salkowski, 

 Zeitschr. f. physiol. Chem., 35, and Ber. d. d. Chem. Gesellsch., 9; Mendel and Brown, 

 Amer. Journ. of Physiol., 3; Mendel and White, ibid., 12; Wiechowski, Arch. f. exp. 

 Path. u. Pharm., 60, with Wiener, Hofmeister's Beitrage, 9. Conflicting reports in 

 Croftan, Pfliiger's Arch., 121. 



4 Chassevant and Richet, Comp. rend. soc. biolog., 49; Ascoli, Pfluger's Arch., 72; 

 Jacoby, Virchow's Arch., 157; Wiener, Arch. f. exp. Path. u. Pharm., 42, and Centralbl. 

 f. Physiol., 18; Schittenhelm, Zeitschr. f. physiol. Chem., 43 and 45; Burian, ibid., 

 43; Almagia, Hofmeister's Beitrage, 7; Pfeiffer, ibid., 7; Wiechowski and Wiener, 

 ibid., 9. 



