Observations on the nature and cure of dropsies : and particularly on the presence of the coagulable part of the blood in dropsical urine; to which is added, An appendix, containing several cases of angina pectoris, with dissections, &c. / By John Blackall.

  • Blackall, John, 1771-1860.
Date:
1813
    " heat, which the secreted mucus of the in* " testines and bladder do not appear to pos- " sess, as I have found by experiment; and " if any one should suppose this coagulable w urine was separated from the blood by the 46 kidneys, he may recollect, that in the " most inflammatory diseases, in which the " blood is most replete, or most ready to " part with the coagulable lymph, none of " this appears in the urine.* This great author would, without doubt, have modified his opinion, had he made any experiments himself, and would have ascer- tained that the coagulation, of which he speaks, takes place long before the boiling heat; that it is not a temporary relief, but a continued symptom of some dropsies, and not merely at their beginning, but through their whole course ; and that the curative effort of nature is an urine not loaded with serum, but almost devoid of it. Vauquelin and Fourcroy, in two Memoirs on the Analysis of Human Urine, published * Darwin's Zoonomia, vol. 1st. p. 3l£).
    in the Annates de Chimie,* have noticed the proportion of gelatinous matter and albumen, which often abound in that fluid, as capable of furnishing considerable evidence of the state of the constitution. They inform us that the urine which is least gelatinous, is most coloured, has a stronger smell, and more urinary mat- ter, and is in consequence less susceptible of fermentation or putridity; whilst that which is more gelatinous is likewise less co- loured, and more disposed to the formation of ammonia, more speedily deposits flakes, both by evaporation and spontaneous de- composition, and gives a cloud or precipi- tate. The former of these is a sign of good health, and the produce of complete diges- tion ; the latter exists in weak subjects, and in cases where the digestive faculties are much injured. They add, there is reason to believe that these two states will one day furnish us with * Sec Annales de Chimie, torn. 31 & 32.
    facts of great utility in the healing art, and that a solution of tan will supply the means of distinguishing them. These remarks, valuable as they are, do not, however, apply to any particular disor- der ; and they refer more to the presence of an animal matter, detected by infusion of galls, than of albumen, as precipitated by less than the boiling heat. They come, however, from such high authorities, andt are so nearly connected with my subject, that no apology can be necessary for insert- ing them in this place. Mr. Cruickshank, in his appendix to Dr. Rollo's excellent work on diabetes, notices the serous urine more precisely than any other author has done.* He asserts, that it is a symptom of gene- ral dropsy, that sometimes this discharge differs but little from serum of the blood ; and that he has known a patient carried off by it in a few weeks. * See Appendix to Rollo on Diabetes, p. 447 and 448,
    Several writers on animal chemistry have since made the same distinction ; but there is no author, as far as I am informed, who has discussed the subject in a practical man- ner, or applied these observations to the treatment of the disease.
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