URINE. 
ether manuring elements, it is not quite so valu- 
able. It has often been the subject of most 
accurate chemical investigations for medical and 
pathological objects; and these investigations 
are available for the farmer, showing as they do 
the value of this fluid for agricultural purposes, 
and how it must be treated in order to derive 
from it the greatest possible advantage. In the 
vicinity of great cities, it is always to be had at 
a cheap rate and in great quantities. According 
to the investigations of Berzelius—who does not, 
however, state the kind of food taken—100:000 
parts by weight of human urine contain 93°300 
of water, 3:010 of urea, 1°714 of salivary matter, 
osmazome, lactic acid, and lactate of ammonia, 
0:032 of raucus of the bladder, 0:100 of uric acid, 
0165 of phosphate of ammonia, 0°150 of muriate 
of ammonia, 0°371 of sulphate of ammonia, 0°316 
‘of sulphate of soda, 0°445 of common salt, 0:294 
of phosphate of soda, 0:100 of phosphates of lime 
and magnesia, with a trace of fluate of lime, and 
0:003 of silica. Besides these substances, cer- 
tain portions of the following have also been 
found in human urine,—albumen, gelatine, a 
resinous substance, colouring matter, fat, acetic, 
benzoic, and carbonic acids, sulphuretted hydro- 
gen, muriate of lime, and oxide of iron. It 
passes like the urine of other animals into rapid 
decomposition, developing much ammonia. It 
would therefore be very injudicious not to take 
care to secure the ammonia in combination, as 
in the case of cattle urine; and this may be ac- 
complished either by dilution with water, or by 
the addition of sulphuric acid, sulphuric acid 
salts, or humic acid. Mixture with earth abound- 
ing with humus, when such earth can be ob- 
tained, is always the best; and for this purpose 
the earth may be laid in heaps, and the urine 
poured over them until the whole of the humic 
acid is neutralized by the ammonia which forms, 
—a point which can easily be ascertained by the 
smell, for when neutralized, the ammoniacal 
smell is immediately perceived. The heaps 
should be frequently turned over and loosened, 
for the purpose of allowing the water to drain 
away. We may proceed in the same manner 
with cattle urine, and so obtain a manure, sur- 
passing in its quality the best preparation of 
dung. In its unputrefied state, or at least so 
long as it still contains caustic ammonia, human 
urine cannot be applied with more impunity 
than cattle urine to green plants, as it imme- 
diately kills them, unless the soil should happen 
to abound with humic acid. If, therefore, we 
have no opportunity of allowing it to putrefy in 
mixture with some soil rich in humus, it can be 
applied only to the manuring of fields which 
have no crops growing on them. 
URINE (Buoopy). See Repwatsr. 
URINE (Excusstve Discuarcs or). See Dra- 
BETES. 
URINE (Incontinence or). A continual drop- 
ping of urine, occasioned by the debilitated state 
551 
of the neck of the bladder and of the bladder 
itself. The most frequent cause of it is exces- 
sive and prolonged distension of the bladder by 
excessive accumulation of urine, putting the 
muscular fibres of the bladder so severely on the 
stretch as permanently to weaken them, or to 
deprive them of their contractility. In the case 
of the horse, the best remedy, probably, is to 
turn him to grass; and when this cannot be 
done, he should be kept in a loose box on green 
food or on a moderate quantity of hay and wa- 
ter, and some bran mashes or a mixture of bran 
and oats. The only medicine likely to be ser- 
viceable to him is an iron tonic, accompanied in 
bad or obstinate cases with some tincture of can- 
tharides. 
URINE (Rerention or). A want of power to 
evacuate urine. It arises either from loss of 
contractility in the muscular fibres of the blad- 
der, or from inflammation or some other disease 
of the neck of the bladder. In the horse, it is 
occasioned sometimes by riding him for a consi- 
derable time and urging him forward, without 
allowing him opportunity to stale——and some- 
times by working him unduly hard, or not allow- 
ing him sufficient repose, or not affording him 
additional and frequent opportunities to stale, 
after having given him a diuretic ball. It may 
be ascertained to exist in the horse by introduc- 
ing the hand within the rectum, and feeling the 
bladder to be distended. Everything must be 
avoided which tends to increase the secretion of 
urine; and if any degree of fever be present, 
blood must be taken and a dose of castor oil and 
a laxative glyster given; and if relief be not 
speedily enough obtained by these means, the 
urine must be artificially drawn off,—in the 
case of a mare, by introducing the finger or a 
short tube into the urethra and holding open 
the mouth of the bladder,—and in the case of a 
male horse, by passing a long, smooth, cylindri- 
cal piece of whalebone up the urethra as far as it 
will readily go, making an incision where the end 
of it is felt a few inches under the fundament, and 
through this incision introducing a catheter. A 
ball of opium, saltpetre, and camphor, in due 
quantities and proportions, mixed up with flour 
and syrup, may now be given; and, for some 
days, very little water must be allowed, and 
everything of a diuretic kind carefully avoided. 
URINE (Supprzssion or). The partial or 
total cessation of the proper functions of the 
kidneys, so that very little urine or none is se- 
creted. It arises sometimes from torpor in the 
kidneys, sometimes from inflammation in them, 
and sometimes from a gradual decay of- their 
structure. See the articles InruamMartion and 
Kipnuy. Gradual decay of the kidneys of the 
horse arises sometimes from the carrying of 
heavy loads, but more commonly from the im- 
proper use of strong diuretics; and is not indi- 
cated by any particular symptoms till it has 
made considerable progress; and then shows 
