PURE  CARBONIC  ACID,  MINERAL  AND  LITHIA  WATER.  117 
sively  a  mineral  alkali,  and  found  only  in  stones,  was  found  by 
Bunsen,  a  few  years  since,  by  spectrum  analysis,  to  be  a  misno- 
mer, lithia  existing  also  in  grain,  grapes,  milk,  blood,  etc.  Lix- 
owitz  first  discovered  the  great  affinity  of  lithia  for  uric  acid,  and 
that  the  urates  of  lithia  were  by  far  the  most  soluble  of  all 
urates.    Alex.  Ure  experimented  on  a  human  calculus  containing 
uric  acid  with  carbonate  of  lithia  at  98°,  and  .finding  it  actively 
dissolved,  proposed  injections  of  lithia  solutions  into  the  bladder 
in  cases  of  calculus.    Garrod,  in  1857,  found  that  when  water 
was  boiled  with  an  excess  of  carbonate  of  lithia,  addition  of  uric 
acid  dissolved  the  whole  with  formation  of  soluble  biurate.  He 
also  acted  upon  a  metacarpal  bone,  the  phalangeal  extremity  of 
which  was  completely  infiltrated  with  a  gouty  deposit  of  urate 
of  soda,  with  a  few  grains  of  carbonate  of  lithia,  which  dissolved 
the  whole  deposit  in  three  days.    In  48  hours  a  cartilage,  infil- 
trated with  urate  deposit,  was  similarly  restored  to  its  normal 
condition.    G.,  therefore,  recommended  carbonate  of  lithia  in 
uric  acid  diathesis  with  gravel  and  in  chronic  gout.    He  found 
that  one  to  four  grains,  two  or  three  times  a  day,  caused  gravel 
to  diminish,  and  even  to  cease.    At  that  early  day  enough  lithia 
was  not  attainable,  even  for  experimental  purposes,  so  that  addi- 
tional conclusions  had  to  be  deduced  from  observations  on  natural 
lithia  waters.    Ruef  reports  that  the  murguelle  of  Baden-Baden, 
containing  2-37  grains  of  chloride  of  lithium  in  16  ounces,  which 
has  recently  been  found  suitable  for  patients  suffering  from 
gout  and  lithiasis,  in  almost  all  cases  causes  an  increased  pain  in 
the  joints  at  first,  in  bad  cases  amounting  to  torture,  but  that  a 
rapid  cure  follows,  cases  of  not  too  long  standing  yielding  in 
three  or  four  Aveeks.    The  practice  was  in  some  cases  to  put  in 
additional  quantities  of  carbonate  of  lithia,  and  then  to  impreg- 
nate the  water  with  carbonic  acid. 
Mr.  S.  remarks  that  our  knowledge  of  the  reactions  and  even 
of  the  solubilities  of  uric  acid  and  the  urates  are  very  incomplete, 
these  solubilities,  as  given  in  the  text  books,  "  having  been  mostly 
determined  for  hot  and  cold  solutions,  while  physiologically  it  is 
of  the  highest  importance  to  have  them  made  at  the  temperature 
of  the  blood."  One  part  of  carbonate  of  lithia  and  one  part  of 
uric  acid  dissolves  in  90  parts  of  water  at  the  ordinary  tempera- 
