DIURETICS AND THEIR USES. 
23 
they are of interest, and probably as yet they have not re- 
ceived that amount of investigation which they merit. Che- 
mical and microscopic examination of these accumulations, 
show them to be made up of bone-earth — the phosphate and 
carbonate of lime — deposited in animal matter in a gra- 
nular form, but not constituting true osseous tissue. The 
immediate cause in operation which gives rise to them we are 
perhaps ignorant of, unless we view them as the result of 
long continued disease, depending, probably, on the nature 
of the food.] 
EXTRACTS FROM 
BRITISH AND FOREIGN JOURNALS. 
ON DIURETICS AND THEIR USES. 
By Dr. Baines. 
A paper on the above subject was read by Dr. Baines at a 
recent meeting of the Western Medical and Surgical Society 
of London. 
“ After some introductory remarks of a general character, 
he divided diuretics into two classes, — the direct and the 
indirect. The direct were considered as local stimulants to 
the kidneys, their active principles being conveyed to the 
glands, and thereby exciting them to increased action. Some 
of these excite the same action, by being excreted entire by 
the kidneys, as is the case with nitrate of potassa, which salt 
is always found to be thrown out of the system in the same 
proportion as it has been administered. Other salts of this 
class, however, experience some change in the body, their 
elements becoming re-arranged, and are presented to the 
kidneys in different states to those in which they were ad- 
ministered ; thus, the acetates and tartrates become carbo- 
nates, and in this state produce their effects upon, and are 
excreted by, the renal organs. Analogous facts were men- 
tioned as occurring during the administration of mercury, 
when the bile has been found to contain traces of this 
mineral ; as also, that ether and alcohol were found in the 
brain, an organ upon which their specific effects are pro- 
