Gout : its pathology and treatment / by Arthur P. Luff.

  • Arthur P. Luff
Date:
1898
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Gout : its pathology and treatment / by Arthur P. Luff. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    90/272 page 78
    As far as I can ascertain from Dr. Hair's writings, he has never identified by the murexide test this uric acid reported to be present in these various articles of diet. These estimations depend solely on the application of Haycraf't's process to the articles of diet, and the subsequent calcula- tion of the silver precipitate so obtained in terms of uric acid. Recently Dr. Haig has shown a tendency to shift the responsibility from uric acid to xanthin, and therefore refers to the amounts of uric acid or xanthin which he states are present in various foods. This assumption, that the sub- stance stated to be present in foods, if not uric acid, is xanthin, is however untenable, since xanthin is not estimated by Haycraf't's process. That Dr. Haig's view as to the direct introduction of uric acid in articles of diet is an erroneous one is shown by the absence of uric acid from the blood of man and animals in health. RATIO OF URIC ACID ELIMINATION TO THAT OF UREA. Dr. Haig has also advanced the theory that normally there is a constant ratio of 1 to 35 between the uric acid and urea formation, and that if the uric acid excretion falls below this ratio it is due to the retention and storage of uric acid in the liver, spleen, kidneys, joints, and fibrous tissues, whereas an increase in the pro- portion of uric acid to urea is due to the washing out from its storage places of the deposited uric acid. According to this view, the amount of
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