344 DISEASES OF THE URINARY APPARATUS. 



b. We must admit the intervention of a specific agent in order to 

 explain the hemoglobinuria which accompanies certain serious dis- 

 eases, such as influenza, septicemia, etc. A considerable number 

 of cases of hematuria of the ox must undoubtedly be classified in 

 this group (miasmatic influences, similar to malaria in the human 

 race ? ), which must also include a certain proportion of cases of 

 hematuria in the horse (Schwarze Harnwinde) (auto-infection ?). 



Kheumatismal hemoglobinemia and hemoglobinuria. 

 When the striated muscles are exposed to violent irritations, phe- 

 nomena of decomposition are produced in their substance, in the 

 course of which the coloring matter of the muscle, which is identi- 

 cal with hemoglobin, becomes free and passes into the blood. 

 Among these irritations, external cold plays a most important 

 part; it increases in a reflex manner the organic transformations 

 (Frohner). The very great majority of cases of hemoglobinuria in 

 the horse are related to no other cause; in the red urine of the 

 ox, also, a predominant pathogenic influence seems to be exercised 

 by cold. In man, hemoglobinuria may be determined by violent 

 exercise and rapid walking. 



Proof of reduced hemoglobin or methemoglobin in urine is 

 obtained by spectroscopic examination — one line of absorption only 

 between D and E, and sometimes another line between C and D ; 

 besides, the urine is brown, with a varnish appearance; it contains 

 much albumin, and the red corpuscles are wanting. 



We must also mention the examination made with tincture of 

 guaiacum and essence of turpentine (Ahnén). 



III. Coloring" matters of the bile in the urine. The presence 

 of bilirubin and biliverdin in the urine always constitutes a patho- 

 logical phenomenon ; contrary to what was formerly asserted, color- 

 ing matters of the bile are not found in the urine of healthy animals 

 of our different species, but they are found in it in the following 

 morbid conditions : 



1. In catarrhal icterus (either hepatogenic or mechanical, icterus 

 by resorption or passive icterus). The cause of this icterus is the 

 stagnation of the bile in the liver and its passage into the blood ; 

 this is favored by the obstruction of the biliary canals or their 

 inflammatory tumefaction. 



2. Acute affections of the liver (more rarely chronic affections of 

 this organ, in which the biliary secretion is completely exhausted). 



3. Such diseases as are accompanied by a diminution of the vas- 



