48 MICROSCOPICAL DIAGNOSIS. 



acteristic shape. They are indestructible in the urine, sink to 

 the bottom of the vessel, and cannot be confounded with any- 

 thing else. They become of value to the microscopist in this 

 connection largely from a medico-legal point of view. 



Vibriones, Bacteria. These little bodies appear in urine that 

 has been allowed to stand for some time, but are sometimes 

 developed before the urine has left the bladder. They possess 

 very active movements and the larger ones twist about after 

 the fashion of a serpent. 



Vegetable fungi. Certain forms of torulce are developed in 

 urine, especially in diabetic urine where they may be found in 

 less than twenty-four hours after the secretion of the urine. 

 Penicillium glaucum is not uncommonly met with in acid urine 

 containing albumen. The spores of these fungi appear as round 

 or oval globules, averaging the o-- 1 ,,-,, or -$-$$ of an inch in 

 diameter. They afterwards become united in chains overlap- 

 ping one another and giving rise to a fine network of fibrils. 

 Masses of fungi, spores and mycelium .are found in the urine 

 of patients laboring under disease. 



Epithelium. A great variety of epithelium is found in the 

 urine, from the large scaly cells from the vagina to the small 

 cylindrical or spindle-shaped cells from the ureters. The. cells 

 are generally nucleated, will take carmine staining, are render- 

 ed pale and their nuclei prominent by acetic acid. 



Casts. Casts are usually mixed with pus, epithelium, and 

 blood-corpuscles, and they are found in urine containing a con- 

 siderable quantity of albumen. 



Mucous Casts. Mucous casts are found in urine of high 

 specific gravity, with excess of urea and u rates. The casts art- 

 large, averaging ^-- - to T J (V of an inch in diameter, pale, and 

 transparent, and are not colored by carmine. 



Epithelial casts. These casts are found in cases of acute 

 nephritis, and they are accompanied with much loose epithe- 

 lium and with a considerable deposit of uric acid. They may 

 have in them oil globules, blood-corpuscles, and perhaps pus cor- 

 puscles. 



Waxy casts. These are very pale and transparent and have 

 well defined margins. Owing to their transparency they are 

 easily overlooked. They are colored by carmine. They may 



