786 THE URINE. 



The amount of the urine is greater the more liquid is taken into the body : 

 Lager-beer, for instance, yields excellent diuretic results. Necessarily such 

 watery urine has a very low specific gravity. It is maintained that by profuse 

 drinking of water also the sum total of the excreted salts is increased, and 

 "hydropathic doctors" attribute their success in curing all sorts of diseases 

 to the " washing out" of the body, especially of the kidneys. Bodily exer- 

 cise for instance, gymnastics increases the quantity of the excreted salts, 

 without any increase of the watery constituents of the urine. A great quan- 

 tity of a watery urine is voided in cold weather, when the perspiratory 

 secretion is reduced or suspended ; furthermore, certain alkaloids, such as 

 those of laudanum, of coffee, tea, etc., stimulate the secretion of urine. 

 Nervous excitement, anxiety, fear, hard mental work, sexual excitement, 

 hysteric "fits," etc., produce the same effect. A very "nervous man" told 

 me that he had to micturate quite frequently whenever he was about to 

 write a " serious letter." 



The amount of urine is, though not constantly, increased in 

 diabetes j the color of diabetic urine is straw-yellow, its specific 

 gravity reaches the highest point L e., 1.040; and so does the 

 amount of the solid constituents, grape-sugar sometimes reach- 

 ing two hundred grammes in twenty-four hours. 



The amount is considerably increased with a decrease of the 

 solid constituents in cirrhosis of the kidneys. One of the most 

 important clinical features of this disease is the constant voiding 

 of large quantities of a watery, nearly colorless urine, almost 

 completely destitute of salts. 



The amount of urine is considerably reduced in intense 

 bodily strain, accompanied by free perspiration, often notwith- 

 standing profuse drinking, and in the beginning and acme of all 

 acute inflammatory diseases of the organs. 



Pathological constituents of the urine, variously combined 

 with normal constituents, are, besides the before-mentioned 

 grape-sugar and biliary matters, the following : albumen ; the 

 epithelia of the bladder in large quantities, and epithelia of the 

 prostate, the pelves of the kidneys, and the kidneys; in the 

 female, besides epithelia of the vagina in larger quantities, those 

 from the cervical portion of the uterus and from the mucosa of 

 the uterus. Furthermore, blood, if not due to menstruation ; 

 pus-corpuscles, leucine and tyrosine and cystine, oxalate and 

 carbonate of lime in larger quantities ; fat-granules and fat-glob- 

 ules, tubular casts, and shreds of connective tissue. 



Albumen is not always a pathological feature, since there 

 are persons who, after heavy meals, void small amounts of 

 albumen without exhibiting any symptoms of kidney disease. It 



