MAIM 217 



etinism we do not know, l.ui l>y many it and goitre are sup: 



to ha\e a e.iinnmn origin. It has l.i-t-ii shown experimentally that the permanent 



\:il of the unfortunate rivtin from the infrrted district, combined wit li judicious 



inedii-al and moral discipline, will often riismv a perfect restoration to health and 



DIAB1 



This i itutional disease, characterised by the passing of large quantities of 



water. 'I'here are two kinds of diabetes one in which the urine contains sugar, 

 and another in which there is no sugar. The former is known as diabetes mellitus, 

 and the latter as diabetes insipidus. They agree in the fact that in both there is an 

 ion of urine, but they ditfer in so many important respects that they 

 must hi regarded as two totally different diseases, and we shall accordingly discuss 



them separately. 



l)i>il't,-# M< Hit us. This is the commoner form, and the one which is usually 

 meant when the term diabetes alone is used. If you are suffering from diabetes, 

 and yet have no sugar in your urine, this is not your complaint. You must pass on 

 to diabetes insipidus. 



In the first place, we will describe the urine passed in diabetes mellitus, so that 

 : have any suspicion that you are suffering from this disease, you may compare 

 the water you are passing with our description. 



To Infill with, there is a marked increase in the quantity secreted. If you 

 were to collect all the urine passed by a healthy person in twenty-four hours, and 

 to measure it, you would find that it amounted to something between one and 

 tour pints. Of course, the quantity is subject to a little fluctuation, according to 

 the quantity of drink taken and the amount of water given off by the skin and 

 bowels ; but on an average it is about fifty ounces, or two pints and a half. Now, 

 in cases of diabetes the quantity is very much greater. It is usually somewhere 

 between eight and fifteen pints, and in some cases it has been known to exceed 

 thirty-two pints. This is an increase you could not possibly overlook ; or at all 

 events all you want to make quite sure is a common half-pint measure. 



Then, again, urine containing sugar differs strikingly in many particulars from 



healthy urine. It is commonly of a light colour, and being so copious is usually free 



from any deposit. Its odour is somewhat peculiar, and is said by some to resemble 



s\\ ect hay, and by others to be like the faint smell of an apple-chamber. Moreover, 



ste is more or less decidedly sweet. If you just dip your finger into ordinary 



healthy urine, and put it to the tip of your tongue, you find that it is tasteless, or 



nearly so; but if you do this to urine containing sugar, you, naturally enough, 



ive that it is sweet. Sugar in the urine occasionally testifies its presence in 



other ways. Sometimes it undergoes a kind of rude crystallisation as the urine 



dries. A girl who suffered from this complaint observed that if her water were 



accidentally spilt upon her black stuff shoes every drop left a white powdery spot 



behind it. In another instance the patient was first alarmed by finding that her 



black worsted stockings were sticky and covered with a white dust, from the same 



cause. In still another case the patient's attention was first drawn to his urine by 



