PENTOSURIA 263 



noted) the reduction with Trommer's test only takes place upon cooling, but 

 then quite suddenly. 



The phenylhydrazin test is also positive with pentose; Nylander's test is 

 not quite so distinct, and thus it happens that a person applying for life 

 insurance is sometimes rejected on the ground that he is supposed to be a dia- 

 'betic. This happened in the case of a patient, aged thirty, who had been mar- 

 ried for but a short time, and who, on account of his rejection for life insur- 

 ance, was very unhappy. In great excitement he consulted a physician for a 

 probable diabetes. Upon examination of the urine the physician at once be- 

 came suspicious, for the urine was optically inactive in the polariscope and 

 did not ferment with yeast. When the urine was examined more accurately 

 (Prof. Salkowski) it was found that the sugar it contained was pentose. 



Here was a case in which the examination of a urine having reducing 

 properties but optically inactive and non-fermentative led to the discovery 

 ef pentose ; the question may quite properly be asked, " How can such a diag- 

 nosis be confirmed with certainty ? " 



A urine that contains pentose, and only such a one, gives the okcin test. 

 This is done in the following manner : 3 c.c. of urine are decomposed with 

 about 6 c.c. of fuming hydrochloric acid; to this is added a few granules of 

 orcin and the mixture is then heated to the boiling point. As soon as the 

 mixture begins to boil, a bluish green color appears which is proof positive of 

 pentose. Urine containing grape sugar or milk sugar does not give this reac- 

 tion ; urine containing glycuronic acid gives the test only upon prolonged boil- 

 ing, and then the precipitate is never greenish blue but more of a violet 

 color. 



Before the orcin test was introduced into the chemistry of urine, the 

 phloroglucin test was used but it was much less positive. According to E. 

 Salkowski, this test may be carried out in the following manner : 3 c.c. of 

 urine are decomposed with 3 c.c. of hydrochloric acid of a specific gravity of 

 1.019, to which a few granules of phloroglucin are added and the mixture is 

 heated to the boiling point. Even after slight heating a cherry red color 

 develops which gradually becomes more distinct, and finally (a point that is 

 characteristic) turns greenish black. If amyl alcohol is then added, and the 

 mixture shaken, the coloring matter is dissolved, and shows an absorption 

 band between D and E, i. e., between yellow and green. Urines which contain 

 large amounts of glycuronic acid show a brownish black color, but present 

 the same absorption lines; urines which contain only traces of glycuronic 

 acid show no absorption lines nor the characteristic colors indicative of 

 pentose. 



I believe that the orcin test is more reliable than the phloroglucin test, 

 as most of the glycuronic acids yield no reaction with the latter ; at least, not 

 if the test is done in the manner I have indicated. In using the orcin test, 

 one or two drops of liq. ferri sesquichlor. may be added, according to Bial; 

 this produces a beautiful blue color. Or Bial's reagent may be used (acid, 

 muriat. cone. 250.0; orcin 0.5; liq. ferri sesquichlor. 10 drops). Confusion 

 with pentose, provided the urine is examined twenty-four hours after it has 

 been voided, is only possible with two of the glycuronic acids at present known. 



