464 
PIERRE A. FISH. 
was also tried ; some ammonia water was added to omnivorous 
urine to precipitate the earthy phosphates (calcium and magne¬ 
sium). The addition of the alcohol to the urine, after the re¬ 
moval of the earthy phosphates by precipitation and filtration, 
gave but a small amount of precipitate as compared with the 
original urine. This precipitate was evidently composed of the 
alkaline phosphates (sodium and potassium), which are insolu¬ 
ble in alcohol. After the removal of both earthy and alkaline 
phosphates, no precipitate occurred, when alcohol was added. 
The sulphates and chlorides of potassium and sodium are 
converted, by the ammonia water used to precipitate the earthy 
phosphates, into the corresponding salts of ammonium, and these 
are soluble in the alcohol diluted bv the urine. 
The test, in brief, is as follows : Add to the suspected urine 
two volumes of strong alcohol. The fluid will become cloudy 
and a precipitate may form ; add a little nitric acid and heat. 
If the precipitate disappears it is composed of the phosphates \ 
if it remains,' it is albumen. 
It would seem from the experiments performed, that neither 
alco’.iol nor nitric acid alone can be depended upon for strictly 
accurate results ; but that a combination of the two, as pro¬ 
posed in the above test, is a distinct advantage,—the alcohol to 
prevent or lessen the tendency for the formation of acid- 
albumen, and to obtain a more delicate test than can be ob¬ 
tained from nitric acid alone ; the nitric acid to keep the phos¬ 
phates in solution, and also by acting upon the chlorides and 
sulphates to put them in a more soluble form in the urine- 
diluted alcohol. 
]\Iucin is also coagulated by alcohol, and urates may be de¬ 
posited after the urine has stood for a time. These should not 
be confused with albumen, since they disappear upon the appli¬ 
cation of heat, while albumen is coagulated. 
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