PHOSPHATES. 763 



of the food exactly reappeared in the urine and feces, the rela- 

 tion was 8.1:1. In starvation, as shown by the compilation of R. TIGER- 

 STEDT, 1 the phosphorized constituents of the body are destroyed to a 

 much greater extent than when food very poor in phosphorus is given. 

 In starvation this relation is changed, namely, relatively more phosphoric 

 acid is eliminated, which seems to indicate that besides flesh and related 

 tissues another tissue rich in phosphorus is largely destroyed. The 

 starvation experiments show that this is the bone-tissue. According to 

 PREYSZ, OLSAVSZKY, KLUG, I. MUNK and MAILLARD 2 the elimination 

 of phosphoric acid is considerably increased by intense muscular work. 

 As the phosphoric acid is in part derived from the nucleins, it would 

 be expected that in those diseases in which the excretion of purine 

 bodies was increased the phosphoric acid would also be augmented. 

 This is not the case, and indeed we have observed cases with an increased 

 elimination of purine bodies with a diminution in the phosphoric-acid 

 excretion. Cases of leucaemia have been observed in which the phos- 

 phoric-acid excretion was reduced, although there was a pronounced 

 increase in the number of leucocytes. In these cases there may be a 

 subsequent excretion or a retention of phosphoric acid. This last condition 

 also occurs in inflammatory and renal diseases. The earthy phosphates 

 of the urine sometimes have the tendency of precipitating either spon- 

 taneously or after warming, and this has been called phosphaturia. We 

 are here dealing with a diminished acidity and, it seems, with a dimin- 

 ished excretion of phosphoric acid and an increased elimination of lime, 

 or at least an essentially different relation between the phosphoric acid 

 and the alkaline earths of the urine, as compared with the normal (PANEK 



IWANOFF, SOETBER and KRIEGER 3 ) . 



Quantitative Estimation of the Total Phosphoric Add in the Urine. 

 This estimation is most simply performed by titrating with a solution 

 of uranium acetate. The principle of the titration is as follows: A 

 warm solution of phosphates containing free acetic acid gives a whitish- 

 yellow precipitate of uranium phosphate with a solution of a uranium 

 salt. This precipitate is insoluble in acetic acid, but dissolves in mineral 

 acids, and on this account there is always added, in titrating, a certain 

 quantity of sodium-acetate solution. Potassium ferrocyanide is used 

 as the indicator, which does not act on the uranium-phosphate precipitate, 

 but gives a reddish-brown precipitate or coloration in the presence of the 



1 Skand. Arch. f. Physiol., 16. 



2 Preysz, see Maly's Jahresber., 21; Olsavszky and Klug, Pfliiger's Arch.. 54; 

 Munk, Arch. f. (Anat. u.) Physiol., 1895; Maillard, Journ. de Physiol. et de Path. 

 10 and 11. 



3 Panek, see Maly's Jahresber., 30, 112; Iwanoff, Biochem. Centralbl., 1, 710; 

 Soetber^and Krieger, Deutsch. Arch. f. klin. Med., 72; Campani, Biochem. Centi&lbl., 

 3, 616; "Tobler, Arch. f. exp. Path. u. Pharm., 52. 



