561 



average results of the author's observations extended only from the 

 year 1815 to 1832, similar records of calculated averages are given 

 down to the year 1841, and a comparison drawn with those of the 

 former period. The author places the whole,of these data in the 

 hands of the Royal Society, for the purpose of being made the basis 

 of future inquiry, in what he terms " the nascent science of Meteo- 

 rology." 



" Contributions to the Chemistry of the Urine ; on the variations 

 in the Alkaline and Earthy Phosphates in the healthy state, and on 

 the Alkalescence of the Urina from fixed Alkali." By Henry Bence 

 Jones, M.A. Cantab., Licentiate of the Royal College of Physicians. 



The author, having observed that in some states of disease there 

 occurs in the urine a great excess of the earthy phosphates, was in- 

 duced to investigate the subject ; and as a preliminary inquiry, to 

 ascertain the variations in the amount of these phosphates at differ- 

 ent times in the same person in a state of health, and to trace the 

 causes which determine an excess or a deficiency of these salts in the 

 urine ; noting, at the same time, the variations in the quantity of 

 the alkaline phosphates contained in it, with a view of discovering 

 whether these variations are influenced by the same, or by different 

 causes. The principal results to which his experiments have con- 

 ducted him are the following. The quantity of the earthy phos- 

 phates in the urine voided soon after taking food is considerably 

 greater than in that voided at other times ; and this happens whether 

 the meal consists of animal food or of bread only. After long fast^ 

 ing, the proportion of earthy phosphates is considerably diminished. 

 On the other hand, the alkaline phosphates are present in greatest 

 quantity when the food consists of bread alone : when meat alone is 

 taken, the deficiency in those salts is still more marked than the 

 excess in the former case. Exercise occasions no change in the 

 quantity of the earthy phosphates, but causes an increase of nearly 

 one-third in the amount of alkaline phosphates ; but its influence is, 

 on the whole, less than that of diet. The earthy phosphates are in- 

 creased in quantity by chloride of calcium, sulphate of magnesia, 

 and calcined magnesia taken into the stomach. 



The author next examines the conditions in which the urine is 

 alkalescent, and which he considers to be of two kinds ; the one, long 

 known 2l% ammoniacal., and arising from the presence of carbonate of 

 ammonia ; and the other, which has not hitherto been distinctly re- 

 cognised, arising from fixed alkali, and appearing most frequently 

 in urine secreted during a period of from two to four hours after 

 breakfast, in persons suffering only from defective digestion. Under 

 these circumstances, it may be, when voided, either turbid from 

 amorphous sediment, or clear and alkaline when tested, or free from 

 deposit and slightly acid. 1 f in either of these last cases it be heated, 

 an amorphous precipitate falls down, which is soluble in dilute hy- 

 drochloric acid, or in a solution of biphosphate of soda. Healthy 

 iirine may at any time be made to yield a precipitate of earthy phos- 

 phates by heat, even though it be acid, by having a portion of this 



