r 
A SIMPLE TEST FOR THE DETECTION OF ALBUMEN IN URINE. 463 
albumen from blood was dissolved in the water ; in another 
set, some blood serum was added to the water. (The proportion 
of serimi-albnmen to the serum is approximately i to lo.) 
If the alcohol be added to normal omnivorous urine a pre¬ 
cipitation of the phosphates will occur; the addition of a few 
Mrops of nitric acid will cause their disappearance. If the urine 
contain albumen and the nitric acid be added after the alcohol, 
the precipitated albumen will remain, the phosphates having 
o-one into solution. 
o 
In order to determine the delicacy of the tests, the follow¬ 
ing solutions were prepared and tested : Solutions of dry albu¬ 
men froniThe blood were prepared as follows : i part of albu¬ 
men to looo parts of water, i to 2000, i to 4000, i to 8000, i to 
16,000, I to 32,000, I to 64,000. The addition of the alcohol 
alone caused precipitates up to i to 32,000, although in the 
latter the precipitate was only just perceptible ; after the addi¬ 
tion of the nitric acid, the precipitates were less dense and had 
disappeared in the i to 32,000 tube, due probably to the forma¬ 
tion of acid-albumen and going into solution. After heating, 
the appearances remained about the same. The tubes were 
left in place over night and when next examined the precipi¬ 
tates were more distinct, and a precipitate had appeared in the 
I to 32,000 tube and even in the i to 64,000 tube small flecks 
of albumen could be detected in suspension. 
The experiment was repeated in a little different form, 
merely substituting some blood serum for the dry albumen. 
Ten cubic centimeters of the serum were added to one liter of 
distilled water, which gave, approximately, i part of serum 
albumen to 1000 of water. The proportions were arranged as 
in the preceding set of experiments, and the same results were , 
obtained. 
Two other sets of experiments were performed to compare 
the relative delicacy of nitric acid and alcohol. The alcohol 
gave a precipitate in the i to 32,000 tube and the nitric acid a 
precipitate in the i to 16,000 tube. 
The effect of adding alcohol after removing the phosphates 
