The clinical examination of the urine in relation to disease / by C. Black.

  • Black, C.
Date:
1870
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The clinical examination of the urine in relation to disease / by C. Black. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    deposit of a pink sediment in the urine. Now, the presence of this deposit may be accepted as a sure sign that the pain in question was rheumatic in its character. But this deep lake coloured urine is not confined to rheumatism alone; therefore its presence must not be regarded as pathognomonic of that disease. In organic and other diseases of the liver, as well as in delirium tremens, it is likewise of very common occurrence; and in diseases of the lungs and of the heart it is not unfrequently seen as a morbid con- stituent of the urine. When, however, its presence is associated with heart disease, it is, in my opinion, more dependent on the rheumatic constitution in which the heart disease finds its probable cause, as well as on a perverted function of the liver produced by the back-flooding from the right side of the heart, than upon the heart disease itself, simply considered as such. In other affections than these it seldom occurs. Hence, its existence in the urine is at all times suggestive of rheumatism, of hepatic disease, of de- lirium tremens, of affections of the lungs, and of disease of the heart; but the question, as to which of these organs is, in each particular instance, at fault, must be determined by reference to other symptoms and special indications. AERABILITY OF THE URINE IN DISEASE. There is one physical condition of the urine in disease, which has commanded but little attention, but which nevertheless is well worthy of notice. It is the capability of the urine, on being shaken in a bottle, to maintain the frothy head caused by air imprisoned in the form of bubbles on its surface. The duration of this capa- bility varies in the urine of certain diseases. It does not depend upon the density of the urine; but it is owing to the presence of substances which are chiefly foreign to the natural constitution of that fluid. At the heal of such substances stand sugar and albu- men. When urine containing either the one or the other of these substances is shaken in a bottle which is afterwards kept corked, the head of the air-bubbles thus produced will not entirely break and subside for upwards of twenty-four hours. Saccharine urine mani- fests a greater capability of maintaining these bubbles than does albuminous urine. Hence, diabetic urine possesses the property of aeration in the greatest degree ; next the urine of diseased kidneys containing albumen; then urine containing bile, and the urine of fever in which albumen is present; after which the capability of
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