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XVII. On Gouty and Urinary Concretions. By William Hyde 
Wollaston, M. D. F. R. S. 
Read June 22, 1797. 
If in any case a chemical knowledge of the effects of diseases 
will assist us in the cure of them, in none does it seem more 
likely to be of service than in the removal of the several con- 
cretions that are formed in various parts of the body. Of these 
one species from the bladder has been thoroughly examined by 
Scheele, who found it to consist almost entirely of a peculiar 
concrete acid, which, since his time, has received the name of 
lithic. 
In the following paper I purpose giving an account of the 
analysis of gouty concretions, and of four new urinary calculi. 
The gouty matter, from its appearance, was originally consi- 
dered as chalk ; but from being found in an animal not known 
to contain or secrete calcareous earth uncombined with phos- 
phoric acid, it has since been supposed to resemble earth of 
bones. Dr. Cullen has even asserted, that it is * very entirely’ 
soluble in acids. The assertion, however, is by no means ge- 
nerally true, and I think he must, in all probability, have used 
the nitrous acid, for I find no other that will dissolve it. 
Another opinion, and, I believe, at this time the most pre- 
valent is, that it consists of lithic acid, or matter of the calculus 
described by Scheele. But this idea is not, I believe, founded 
