1268 



URINE. 



According to Owen, in the kangaroo the 

 combined prostatic and membranous or mus- 

 cular part of the urethra is proportionally 

 longer and wider in the marsupial than in 

 any other mammiferous quadrupeds. It swells 

 out immediately beyond the neck of the 

 bladder, and then gradually tapers to its 

 junction with the spongy part of the urethra; 

 it is not, however, divided like the vagina. 

 Its walls are thick, formed of an external 

 thin stratum of nearly transverse muscular 

 fibres, and a thick glandular layer, the secre- 

 tion of which exudes by innumerable pores 

 upon the lining membrane of this part of the 

 urethra.* 



The urethra in the Monotremata approx- 

 imates in many of its characters to that of 

 the bird. " It begins by a small orifice at 

 the root of the penis, near the termination of 

 the pro-genital passage, and, by the action of 

 certain muscles, it can be brought into closer 

 approximation with the uro-genital passage." 

 Owen supposes that this temporary continua- 

 tion of the urethra and uro-genital passages 

 takes place during the vigorous muscular and 

 vascular actions of the parts in coitu, and 

 that the semen is then propelled from one 

 along the other without escaping into the com- 

 mon ventricular compartment of the cloaca "f 

 According to Cuvier, in the Gerboise de Mau- 

 ritanie the spongy portion of the urethra does 

 not join the corpora cavernosa until it reaches 

 the glans. 



For the comparative anatomy of the urinary 

 apparatus in birds, reptiles, and fish, see the 

 separate articles on these subjects. 



The urethra in the females of the lower 

 animals offers no peculiarity worthy of notice. 



BIBLIOGRAPHY. MALE. On the anatomy of the 

 urethra, see various anatomical works ; and on the 

 muscles surrounding the membranous portion, see 

 Wilson, on the Structure and Diseases of the Urinary 

 Organs ; and Guthrie, on Diseases of the Bladder 

 and Urethra. Daran, Observations Chirurgicales 

 sur les Maladies de 1'Uretre, traite'es suivant lanou- 

 velle Me'thode. Paris, 1748. Guerin, Dissert, sur 

 les Maladies de 1'Uretre, avec des Reflexions sur la 

 methode qu'ont employee jusqu'a present les Pra- 

 ticiens. Paris, 1780. Hunter, on the Venereal 

 Disease. 2nd Edition. 1788. Whately ( Thomas), 

 An Improved Method of treating Strictures of the 

 Urethra. London, 1801. Labraud, Sur le Retre- 

 cissement Chronique de 1'Uretre. Paris, J805. 

 Home, Practical Observations on the Treatment of 

 Strictures of the Urethra. 1805. Kleeman, Dis- 

 sertatio de curandis Urethra Chronicis. Erlangen, 

 1811. Howship (John), Practical Observations on 

 the Diseases of the Urinary Organs, &c. London, 

 1816. Desault, Maladies des Voies Urinaires 

 (CEuvres Chirurgicales, vol. iii.). Paris, 1813. 

 Arnott (James), M. D., A Treatise on Strictures of 

 the Urethra, containing an Account of an improved 

 Method of Treatment. London, 1819. Bell (Charles), 

 A Treatise on Diseases of the Urethra, &c. &c. 

 3rd Edition, by Shaw. London, 1822. Ducamp, 

 Traite' des Retentions d'Urine cause'es par le Retre- 

 cissement de 1'Uretre, &c. Paris, 1822. Lisfranc, 

 Des Re'trecissements de 1'Uretre. Paris, 1824. 

 Lallemand, Observations sur les Maladies des Or- 

 ganes Genito-Urinaires. Paris, 1825-27. Winz- 

 heimer, Ueber die Organische Harnrohrenverenge- 

 rung und fc die verschiedenen Untersuchungs- und 



* See article MARSUPIALIA. * 

 f See article MONOTREMATA. 



Heilungs-Methoden derselben. Erlangen, 1832. 

 Amussat, Lecons sur les Retentions d'Urine causees 

 par le Re'tre'cissement du Canal de 1'Uretre, &c. 

 1832. Tanchon, Traite' des Re'trecissements du 

 Canal de 1'Uretre. 1835. D. J. Arntzenius, De 

 Organische Gebrechen der Urethra. Utrecht, 1840. 

 Brodie (Sir Benj.), Lectures on the Diseases of the 

 Urinary Organ's. 3rd Edition. 1842. Kugler, 

 Praktische Abhandlung iiber die Verengerung der 

 Harnrohre, und ihre Heilung ohne Aetzmittel. 

 Wien, 1843. Guthrie, On the Anatomy and Dis- 

 eases of the Neck of the Bladder and of the Urethra. 

 London, 1834. Civiale, Sur les Maladies des Or- 

 ganes Genito-Urinaires, 1850. 



FEMALE. For the anatomy of the female 

 urethra, see the various works on Descriptive 

 Anatomy. For the morbid anatomy, the following 

 works may be referred to : Morgagni, De Sedibus et 

 Causis Morborum ; Churchill, On the principal Dis- 

 eases of Females, 1844, in which reference is made 

 to the writings of Warner, Jenner, Sir C. M. Clarke, 

 Wardrop, Velpeau, Hosack, Rosenmiiller, Vogel, Kal- 

 debrand, and Drokaska : also to Hughes, in Medi- 

 cal Facts and Observations, vol. ii. p. 26. ; to the 

 Lancet, vol. xiii. p. 784. ; to the Journ. Hebdom., 

 July, 1836 ; to the New York Journal of Medicine 

 and Surgery, No. 1. p. 29. ; to Duges, on Diseases 

 of the Uterus (Heming's Trans.), p. 546. ; and the 

 fourth volume of the Transactions of the Provincial 

 Medical and Surgical Association. The Principles 

 of Midwifery, &c., by John Burns, Glasgow, 1820. 

 Dr. Ramsboiham's Lectures on Midwifery, Med. Ga- 

 zette for June 6th, 1835. The British and Foreign 

 Medical Review, vol. viii. 1839. Grosse's Patho- 

 logical Anatomy, vol. ii. 1839. Dr. Ashwell, On 

 Diseases of Women, 1846. 



John Adams. 



URINE. Lat. Urina ; Gr. TO ovpov ; 

 French, V Urine; Ital. I 'Urina; Germ, das 

 Hams. 



The urine may be defined as that fluid 

 which is eliminated by the kidneys in the dis- 

 charge of their excretory function. 



The human urine being that of an omnivo- 

 rous feeder, differs materially from that which 

 is excreted by animals purely carnivorous or 

 herbivorous. In cases occasionally met with, 

 however, where, either from congenital taste, 

 want, or the indulgence of eccentricity or 

 curiosity, vegetable food alone has been taken 

 by human beings, the urine has been observed 

 to undergo certain modifications as a conse- 

 quence. 



The urine, it is obvious, must vary much 

 in constitution, according to the conditions 

 under which the organism is placed, both in 

 respect to external and internal circumstances. 

 Thus the state of the atmosphere, as respects 

 heat and cold, dryness and moisture, will 

 affect the quantity of water excreted, as a 

 constituent of the urine, while the quality and 

 quantity of the ingesta, the state of the chylo- 

 poietic organs, and the amount of exertion 

 to which the body has been subjected, are all 

 causes tending to modify the amount, and 

 perhaps also the nature and quality, of the 

 solid matters excreted by the kidneys. 



When treating, therefore, of the chemistry 

 of normal urine, it must be borne in mind 

 that, in fixing a standard, we are but giving a 

 result more or less approaching to the truth, 

 and that the real method of obtaining a philo- 

 sophical view of its chemical constitution is, 

 to regard the urine in its variations, in the 



