Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
March,  1903. 
Microscopic  Study  of  Urine. 
in 
THE  MICROSCOPIC  STUDY  OF  URINE,  TECHNIQUE  FOR 
PERMANENT  MOUNTS  AND  METHOD  OF  MAKING 
RECORDS 
By  L.  Napoi^on  Boston,  A.M.,  M.D. 
Bacteriologist  to  the  Philadelphia  Hospital;  Demonstrator  in  charge  of  the 
Clinical  Laboratories  of  the  Medico-Chirurgical  College,  Philadelphia. 
Due  to  the  variable  number  of  gateways  through  which  error 
may  pass  in  the  microscopic  analysis  of  the  urine,  a  careful  sys- 
tematic technique  sufficiently  broad  in  its  scope  that  it  may  be 
bounded  on  the  one  hand  by  the  method  for  the  collection  of  the 
specimen,  and  on  the  other  by  the  ultimate  results  of  such  studies, 
is  needed.  Give  the  amateur  microscopist  such  a  guide  and  he  can 
soon  equip  himself  with  a  collection  of  specimen  slides,  equal  in 
every  way  to  those  I  shall  exhibit  this  afternoon;  moreover,  he 
will  acquaint  himself  so  thoroughly  with  these  specimens  from  their 
repeated  study,  that  the  knowledge  of  them  becomes  a  part  of  him- 
self and  ceases  to  be  one  of  question. 
METHOD  FOR  COLLECTING  AND  PRESERVING  THE  GROSS  SPECIMEN. 
(1)  Collect  from  that  urine  voided  two  or  three  hours  after  the 
heaviest  meal  of  the  day,  or  after  active  exercise.  Urine  passed 
on  rising  after  a  night's  sleep  is  seldom  of  microscopic  interest. 
(2)  The  urine  should  be  voided  in  a  clean  vessel — collect  the 
specimen  in  a  clean  bottle  and  add  five  (5)  drops  per  ounce  of 
chloroform.  I  have  found  chloroform  to  be  a  most  valuable  agent 
in  preserving  the  organic  elements.  The  reaction  of  a  urine 
governs  largely  its  microscopic  findings ;  for  example,  casts  are 
soon  destroyed  by  an  alkaline  medium,  and  urine,  alkaline  as  a 
result  of  fermentation,  is  apt  to  display  a  heavy  precipitate  of  phos- 
phates when  the  total  amount  of  phosphates  present  is  not  above 
the  normal.  Ammonium  urate  crystals  appear  in  the  same  manner, 
and  yet  neither  substance  bears  any  clinical  significance  except 
when  displayed  by  the  fresh  specimen.  Acid  urine  may  contain 
casts,  oxalates,  uric  acid,  amorphous  urates,  acid  phosphates  and 
crystals  of  bile  acids ;  but  I  have  never  been  privileged  to  study 
any  of  these  substances  in  a  decidedly  alkaline  specimen.  Many 
sediments  do  not  depend  in  any  measure  upon  the  chemical  reac- 
tion, as  is  shown  by  such  substances  as  pus. 
