268 
DR. BENCE JONES ON THE VARIATIONS 
drachms of tartrate of potash were taken, dissolved in four ounces of distilled water, 
the urine was found alkaline, but in two hours the urine was again acid : the first 
effect on the urine had ceased to be very evident. That this was not caused by mere 
irritation of the stomach is seen by nitre and distilled water producing no similar 
effect. The influence of the tartrate of potash became again evident after the next 
meal, when the decrease in the acidity of the urine was much greater than when no 
tartrate of potash was taken. 
From the high specific gravity of the urine after the tartrate, it is probable that 
undecomposed tartrate of potash passes off in the urine, and from the height to 
which the acidity rises when the medicine is taken, it seems possible that the tartaric 
acid is not decomposed but separated from the base in transitu ; but on this point 
further experiments are requisite. 
When much larger doses of tartrate of potash were taken, the rise and fall of the 
acidity of the urine before and after food were still distinctly evident. 
The conclusions from these experiments regarding the effect of medicines on the 
acidity of the urine are — 
(b.) That liquor potassse taken in large doses does lessen the acidity of the urine. 
One ounce of liquor potassae taken in three days hindered the acidity of the urine from 
rising before food to the height it otherwise would have done, but it by no means 
made the urine constantly alkaline, nor did it hinder the variations produced by the 
state of the stomach from being very evident. 
(c.) That tartaric acid in large doses does increase the acidity of the urine. 
354 -grains of dry pure tartaric acid, dissolved in water, taken in three days, caused 
the acidity of the urine before food to rise considerably higher than it otherwise 
would have done ; but this quantity of acid was not sufficient to hinder the urine 
passed a few hours after food from being alkaline. This quantity of tartaric acid 
therefore in this time does not produce so much effect on the reaction of the urine 
as the stomach does. 
(d.) That tartrate of potash in large doses produces the most marked effect on the 
alkalescence of the urine. 120 grains of pure dry tartrate of potash dissolved in four 
ounces of distilled water made the urine alkaline in thirty-five minutes. In two 
hours the alkalescence had disappeared, but after the next meal the effect of the 
tartrate of potash was again apparent. 
Ten drachms of tartrate of potash taken in three days produced but little, if any, 
effect on the acidity of the urine after it had been omitted for twenty-four hours. 
