

PROTEIDS IN THE URINE. 791 



of protein, the precipitate obtained in the boiling test may be filtered, washed, 

 and then tested with MILLON'S reaction. The precipitate may also be dissolved 

 in dilute alkali and the biuret test applied to the solution. The presence of pro- 

 teoses or peptones in the urine is directly tested for by this last-mentioned test. 



In testing the urine for proteid one should never be satisfied with one 

 reaction alone, but must apply the heat test and HELLER'S, or the potas- 

 sium-ferrocyanide test. In using the heat test alone the proteoses may 

 be easily overlooked, but these are detected, on the contrary, by HELLER'S 

 or the potassium-ferrocyanide test. If only one of these tests is employed, 

 no sufficient intimation of the kind of proteid present can be obtained, 

 whether it consists of proteoses or coagulable proteid. 



For practical purposes several dry reagents for proteid have been recommended. 

 Besides the metaphosphoric acid may be mentioned STUTZ'S or FURBRINGER'S 

 gelatin capsules, which contain mercuric chloride, sodium chloride, and citric 

 acid; and GEISSLER'S albumin-test papers, which consist of strips of filter-paper 

 some of which have been dipped in a solution of citric acid, and some into a 

 solution of mercuric-chloride and potassium-iodide solution, and then dried. 



If the presence of proteid has been positively proved in the urine by 

 the above tests, it then remains necessary to determine its character. 



The Detection of Globulin and Albumin. In detecting serglobulin 

 the urine is exactly neutralized, filtered, and treated with magnesium 

 sulphate in substance until it is completely saturated at the ordinary 

 temperature, or with an equal volume of a saturated neutral solution of 

 ammonium sulphate. In both cases a white, flocculent precipitate is 

 formed in the presence of globulin. In using ammonium sulphate with 

 a urine rich in urates, a precipitate consisting of ammonium urate may 

 separate. This precipitate does not appear immediately, but only after 

 a certain time, and it must not be mistaken for the globulin precipitate. 

 In detecting seralbumin heat the filtrate from the globulin precipitate 

 to boiling-point, or add about 1 per cent acetic acid to it at the ordinary 

 temperature. 



For the detection and also for the quantitative estimation of the various 

 globulins (fibringlobulin, euglobulin, and pseudoglobulin) OSWALD l has pro- 

 posed the fractional precipitation with ammonium sulphate. 



Proteoses and peptones have been repeatedly found in the urine in 

 different diseases. Reliable reports are at hand on the occurrence of 

 proteoses in the urine. The statements in regard to the occurrence of 

 peptones date from a time when the conception of proteoses and pep- 

 tones was different from that of the present day, and in part they are 

 based upon investigations using untrustworthy methods. According 

 to ITO 2 true peptones are sometimes found in the urine in cases of pneu- 



1 Munch, med. Wochenschr., 1904. See also Zak and Necker, Deutsch. Arch. f. 

 klin. Med., 88. 



2 In regard to the literature on proteoses and peptones in urine, see Huppert- 

 Neubauer, Harn- Analyse, 10. Aufl., 466 to 492; also A. Stoffregen, Ueber das Vorkom- 

 men von Pepton iin Harn, Sputum, und Eiter (Inaug.-Diss., Dorpat, 1891); E. Hirsch- 

 feldt, Ein Beitrage zur Frage der Peptonurie (Inaug.-Diss., Dorpat, 1892); and espe- 



