37 
on the Composition of Urinary Concretions. 
These experiments afford evidence of the wide difference be- 
tween the animal oxide above described and the acid sublimate 
of Scheele.* 
If this conclusion be allowed to be just, it will be necessary 
to give a name to this urinary animal oxide. Agreeably to the 
principles of the new chemical nomenclature, the nafne should 
be Lithic oxide. But the term lithic is a gross solecism ; and I 
trust that philological critics will find the name ouric or uric 
oxide perfectly appropriate ; for, if it be thought objectionable, 
on account of the existence of the matter in arthritic as well 
as urinary concretions, still philology will allow its admission, 
as in other similar cases, notr efcoxw ; it being found in greater 
abundance, by far, in the urinary passages than in other situa- 
tions, and therefore falling under common observation, as an 
ingredient of the urine. If, however, the term lithic oxide, or 
any other denomination, shall obtain acceptance, I shall very 
willingly adopt it. 
It requires no sagacity, in a person acquainted with the facts 
of the preceding experiments, to perceive that they are appli- 
cable to a variety of uses in chemical investigation, and in the prac- 
tice of physic. The latter I of course take no notice of in this 
place; but, relative to the former uses, I shall particularly point 
out, that we are now able not only to detect, in the easiest man- 
ner, the presence of the minutest proportion of the above animal 
oxide in urinary concretions, and also in other substances, but 
even to determine its proportion to the other constituent parts, 
* From these experiments, it now appears very doubtful whether the lithic acid of 
Scheele exists as a constituent of urinary concretions, or is compounded, in conse- 
quence of a new arrangement taking place, of the elementary matters of the concretion, 
by the agency of fire ; but it is demonstrated, that the urinary animal oxide is really a. 
constituent part, and even a principal one, of almost all human urinary calculi. 
